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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25066951">The 30th Birthday</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RELYCH/pseuds/RELYCH'>RELYCH</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adoption, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne Has Issues, Damian Wayne Feels, Damian Wayne Gets a Hug, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Damian Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Damian Wayne-centric, Dysfunctional Family, F/F, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Family Issues, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Trans Male Character, mentioned on-again/off-again relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:02:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>37,301</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25066951</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RELYCH/pseuds/RELYCH</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Damian Wayne was afraid whe Helena was born that it would prove the only thing connecting him to the family was the biological ties, and was hurt when he was right. After a fight with his father on his eighteenth birthday, Damian left home and later left Gotham for school in California. A few months after his twenty-ninth birthday, Damian was shocked by the path life had took him on, but the most shocking thing was that he was officially back in Gotham. Will the nine months leading up to his thirtieth birthday lead to Damian reconnecting with his family? Does his family even want him back in their lives? Can they even work past the decade of being separate? </p><p>-----------<br/>This is mainly just angst and fluff about family because that's some of my favorite works to read concerning the Batfamily. I will probably edit tags as I go along.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Damian Wayne/Original Male Character(s), Dick Grayson &amp; Damian Wayne, Helena Wayne/Kara Zor-El, Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake &amp; Damian Wayne, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>320</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The Batman timeline is super confusing, but I tried to be as close to accurate for major events. I know that Helena and Damian do not exist on the same Earth and her birthday is a different day, but I wanted to use her as the major cause of friction in the family. This is my first time writing any of the Batfamily, so I apologize for any OOC. On that note though, Damian is closing on 30 with being seperated from his family for over a decade, so he will act a bit different than his kid/teenage self. </p><p>Lastly, two of the main characters will be transgender males, and I am not transgender so I was hoping that someone could help me edit the story to be as realistic as possible.</p><p>Thanks for reading, and any comments are appreciated!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>January 5th 1999, Damian Wayne is born to Talia Al Ghul, the daughter of the head of an assassin ring and crime lord. Talia does not tell the boy’s father as she decided to train him to be the greatest assassin of all time, worthy of the Al Ghul lineage, and his father gave up his dreams of being something extraordinary, so he would not be of use in the raising of her son. </p><p>On Damian’s 10th birthday, he finally bested his mother in combat and was rewarded by meeting his father. It was underwhelming. </p><p>On Damian’s 11th birthday, Grayson surprised him with a party that quickly, and secretly, became his favorite memory. Nobody had heard from his father in almost seven months at the time.</p><p>On Damian’s 12th birthday, his father forgot, but Grayson visited and gave him some art supplies that were far superior than the other supplies he owned. Damian forbade Alfred from mentioning his birthday to the rest of the family because he did not want birthday wishes from someone who forgot. </p><p>On Damian’s 13th birthday, his father did not even call and wish him a happy birthday from the island he and Kyle were on for their honeymoon. Damian was not as upset over his father’s lack of communication, instead he spent the day reading to Richard who was in a coma from a motor accident. </p><p>On Damian’s 14th birthday, he sat through an extremely boring baby shower for the child Father sired with Kyle. He did not like to admit to himself that he was nervous about what the arrival of another blood child of Father’s meant, especially as this baby was a legitimate heir unlike Damian. Richard’s brain damage made him forget some details, which meant nobody remembered his birthday; Damian did not want to make Richard feel worse by bringing up the forgotten detail. </p><p>On Damian’s 15th birthday, he listened as everyone discussed the first birthday party for Helena Wayne as her birthday fell three days after Damian’s. He was not surprised, as the family constantly doted on the baby since the first few months of her life were very touch and go due to her being born premature. Although he was not surprised, he was still hurt when not even Alfred mentioned his birthday or made his favorite breakfast. </p><p>On Damian’s 16th birthday, his father forgot about agreeing to take Damian to the DMV for his driver’s license and he had to ask Drake, who was at the Manor already. Damian did not care for the pity he received from Drake when the older boy discovered that nobody had remembered his birthday for a couple of years. </p><p>On Damian’s 17th birthday, he celebrated both the start of his last semester in high school, as he was graduating a year early, and his birthday by driving to a small town north of Gotham. There he met a handsome boy named Tucker that was also planning to go to Gotham University in the fall. Damian and Tucker had a nice lunch and promised to talk to each other again. Timothy gave Damian a new sketchbook and a digital frame with pictures of his animal, and the fact that Timothy remembered his birthday and gave Damian a gift, shocked the teenager so much that they did not argue for almost a week. </p><p>On Damian’s 18th birthday, he told, and fought, with his father about his planned college transfer and move to California with Tucker, as Father believed it was ill-advised and Tucker was merely a gold-digger. Damian stormed out of the Manor wondering how he would afford school with his father’s promise that Damian would never see another penny from the Wayne family. He sent a message to Richard requesting for the older man to leave him alone, as he did not want the man to choose between Damian and the rest of his family.</p><p>On Damian’s 19th birthday, he forgot about his birthday as he had a full day scheduled between his classes and then a six-hour shift at the restaurant he worked at to afford his books, rent, and food. When he was about to fall asleep next to Tucker, he saw a text from Timothy wishing him a happy birthday and saying that the gift he had ordered was running late. Damian appreciated that Timothy remembered since neither he or his boyfriend had not remembered.</p><p>On Damian’s 20th birthday, he prepared for his last under-grad semester, as he had chosen an accelerated under-grad program in addition to his preliminary work in high school. Damian told Tucker that he was planning to go to a veterinary school in New York City, and Tucker told Damian that he would be staying in California with the love of his life, a girl that Tucker had repeatedly told Damian was merely a friend. Extremely hurt by Tucker, Damian had sent Timothy a message stating that he no longer wanted to hear birthday wishes from Timothy as it was the only time he heard from anyone in the family all year, and he was fed up with people only pretending to care. </p><p>On Damian’s 21st birthday, he went out with a group of his co-workers to a trendy bar in NYC, where Damian over-indulged and threw a shoe at the co-worker he hated most, Luke. They were thrown out of the bar, but almost the entire group thought it was so funny they didn’t care. Damian waited for most of the day for Timothy to not heed his wishes and message him. When Damian realized that it wasn’t going to happen, he drank past the point of remembrance to mourn his loss of the last little bit of family.</p><p>On Damian’s 22nd birthday, his co-workers took him out to a bar to celebrate the weekend before, where he over-indulged again and had a massive fight with Luke again. The next morning he could not remember most of the night, but woke up with Luke in his bed. Damian could not believe that he had done something so cliche, and vowed never to sleep with his sworn enemy again. </p><p>On Damian’s 23rd birthday, he went out on a nice lunch with Luke and then to an art gallery. Damian realized that this was the second birthday in his entire life that he enjoyed every aspect of. </p><p>On Damian’s 24th birthday, he took a well-deserved break from the massive amount of studying he had been doing to prepare for the North American Veterinary License Exam as he was almost finished with the four-year program. Luke took him upstate and they went on an amazing hike. </p><p>On Damian’s 25th birthday, he saw the most beautiful alley cat and took her home after a little bit of time coercing the cat with treats. Luke was not very pleased to share a home with a cat, but resigned himself to the fact that there would probably be more animals sharing the space before it was all said and done. </p><p>On Damain’s 26th birthday, he and Luke went to look at venues for their up-coming wedding, and Damian planned a celebration party as Luke was nearly finished with his residency and needed a break from preparing for the final boards. </p><p>On Damian’s 27th birthday, he and Luke went out to a nice dinner, and had a pleasant evening at home with their animals. They also officially decided to apply to be foster parents, which they had been talking about since the beginning of their engagement. </p><p>On Damian’s 28th birthday, he woke up to breakfast in bed made by Luke and the children they were in the process of adopting, Kesley, an inquisitive 5 year old, and her sister Hannah, a shy 8 year old. They finalized plans to spend an afternoon together that weekend because of school and work. </p><p>On Damian’s 29th birthday, he woke up to the unmistakable smell of Gotham. The family was staying at a hotel in Gotham, as Luke had been offered a fantastic psychiatrist job in Gotham, and they wanted the kids to see Gotham before deciding to move.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*Edited on March 7, 2021. Please let me know if you see any errors.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Wednesday, March 8th</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Damian and Luke get a call about a foster kid who needs a temporary home.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Warning: Mentions of transphobia, but from here on, the only time it will be brought up is when Jordan needs to talk about it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have no idea if these are realistic conversations someone would have with social workers; I'm just basing it off what foster parents I knew would tell my parents about their foster kid's backgrounds (my father is a southern pastor so that might be why they gave more details than they should if that's the case, or because in my hometown literally everyone gossiped about everything). Any notes for this is greatly appreciated. Please let me know if I need to make any changes.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Damian woke up and briefly panicked over the unfamiliar setting, but calmed down when he realized it was just the new home the family had moved into three weeks prior. He was still slightly uncomfortable living in Gotham once again, but Luke and the girls seemed to love it. Damian knew it was irrational to expect to run into one of his family members in a city the size of Gotham, but the potential run-in still terrified him. He missed his family, but with a decade separating their last interaction, their reaction to being in the same city was most likely not going to be pleasant. That didn’t matter, though, he had his family here together in their house, and that was all he needed. </p>
<p>Damian rose from the bed he shared with his partner of almost seven years, and in a few months they will have been married for three years. Damian needed to start planning a party and trip for the anniversary. Ever since his daughters came into his life, he needed to start planning things months in advance to have a chance of being prepared when the day came. Damian took a second to smile down at his spouse and kissed the slumbering man on the forehead before walking out of the bedroom. He wouldn’t change anything about his life or family, though, even if it meant that he would have to start planning for things years in advance. </p>
<p>Damian went into the kitchen to cook breakfast for Luke and the girls, just some eggs and toast which were the only things he could confidently cook. He grew up with servants at his mother’s, Alfred at his father’s, and then he became a broke college student. Which meant, he never learnt how to cook, and he very much regrets it now. Especially since he made it through college by working in restaurants. Damian tried not to be too insulted when none of his family would eat whatever he cooked, but dammit he was trying. The least they could do was make an effort to spare his feelings, and save their harsh criticisms until he had left the room. </p>
<p>He had just finished cooking the eggs when Luke walked into the small kitchen area and surveyed the food. Luke was a lean man with a height of 5’9”, sandy blonde hair that was cut in a low fade high top, dark blue eyes, and sharp cheekbones. He went to the gym regularly, Damian did too but their workouts were very different from each other, so his body was toned under clothes that tended to hide his body shape. </p>
<p>“You undercooked the eggs and burnt the toast, love.” </p>
<p>Damian looked down at the plated eggs and muttered a curse as he realized Luke was right. </p>
<p>“Well you do it then, since you’re obviously an expert.” </p>
<p>Luke grinned at Damian and pressed a short kiss to the raven haired man’s lips. Then he took over in the kitchen while Damian read the news on his tablet. The family had a strict rule of no screens while eating. Damian was the one to come up with the rule, and he was always the one trying to push the boundaries of the rule. </p>
<p>Kelsey walked into the kitchen shortly after, rubbing her eyes with her new favorite stuffed shark shoved in the crook of her elbow. She was a tall girl with long red hair, blue eyes, dimples, and freckles covering her. Her older sister Hannah was also tall, but she had wavy brown hair with constantly changing coloring highlights that fell slightly below her shoulders. Hannah always wore heavy eyeliner, and had deep dimples that she hated but her fathers secretly thought were adorable. The two girls had the same shade and shape of blue eyes and same long, straight nose.</p>
<p>Kelsey recently became obsessed with sharks for reasons that truly baffled Damian, but he didn’t try to persuade her to pick another favorite animal. Hannah, on the other hand, just last week had told the girl that sharks would think Kelsey’s red hair was blood so they would be more likely to bite her in the ocean. It took Damian almost an hour to calm Kelsey down, and then another twenty minutes to explain to Hannah that grounding her for a week was a fair punishment. The whole ordeal made them late for school, for the eighth day in a row, and put Damian on the Vice Principal's bad side. </p>
<p>Which meant he volunteered to help with the end of the school year bake sale that helped raise money to provide kids with lunches during the summer break, so he could try to get back on her good side. The sale was on June 3rd, so he had plenty of time.</p>
<p>“Good morning, Baba. Good morning, Daddy. What’s for breakfast?”</p>
<p>“Morning, Kels. We’re having toast with strawberry jam and eggs, which are almost done, so could you go grab your sister?” </p>
<p>Kelsey nodded and walked down the hall where Hannah’s room was; the house was two stories with the kitchen, Hannah’s bedroom, a family room, and a bathroom on the bottom floor. Two more bedrooms, another bathroom, and the master bedroom with an ensuite were on the top floor. Damian didn’t know why Hannah wanted to be on a separate floor from the rest of the family, but Damian was fastly coming to accept that he would probably never know the reason behind a majority of his children’s decisions. </p>
<p>Hannah and Kelsey walked into the kitchen, and Damian put the tablet away to talk with his family over breakfast. The pleasant chatter lasted around four minutes before the girls started bickering about who’s turn it was to pick the music for the ride to school. The bickering quickly escalated and before Damian could stop it, his reflexes from his mother’s assassin training all but gone from over a decade of unuse, there was a piece of toast flying and hitting Hannah in the face. Luke raised his eyebrow at Damian and conveyed in a look that it was Damian’s turn to deal with it. </p>
<p>An hour after the toast ordeal, the girls were dressed and sulking over the decision that Damian would be picking the music for the next two weeks. Damian looked at the time and realized that he would need to go about thirty miles over the speed limit to drop the girls off at school on time. Resigning himself to another disapproving glare from Vice Principal Rosa, Damian told the girls to hurry into the car and set off for school while mentally promising he would create the best end of year bake sale the school had ever seen. </p>
<p>After listening to a lecture from the Vice Principal about tardiness, Damian walked back into his car to drive to work already exhausted. He miraculously made it to his parking lot early enough to swing by his favorite cafe before work, but with the way the morning was going so far, there would probably be a long line. Damian decided to risk it and was pleasantly surprised that there were only two people waiting. He took his place in line and pulled out his phone to scroll through social media while he waited. </p>
<p>He heard someone clear their throat in a very close proximity to Damian, “Damian Wayne, is that you?” </p>
<p>Damian internally groaned and wondered if he should just pretend he wasn’t Damian Wayne. He looked up from his phone and very nearly dropped the device when he realized who was standing next to him. </p>
<p>It was Conner Kent, the man that Tim had been dating pretty much the entire time Damian lived with his father. </p>
<p>“It’s Wayne-Miller now actually,” Damian was surprised and a little embarrassed that his response was to coldly correct the man. </p>
<p>“Oh, congratulations. Tim and I got married about eight years ago, and we hyphenated too,” Damian wondered how that worked since Timothy’s last name was Drake-Wayne before marriage. </p>
<p>“Congratulations to you both, as well,” Damian said, stiffly, very uncomfortable. </p>
<p>He noticed that Conner was rubbing the back of his neck, obviously as uncomfortable as Damian. “How long have you been back in Gotham? If you are back, that is.”</p>
<p>“My family and I moved here around three weeks ago. My husband was offered a job that he could not say no to.”</p>
<p>“Oh cool. Tim and I left to live in San Francisco for a couple of years, but we missed Gotham, as weird as that sounds. We’ve been back for around six years now. ” Conner laughed a little bit at that, but still looked uncomfortable. </p>
<p>“How is Timothy?”</p>
<p>“He’s doing good, we’re doing good. We adopted a kid about five years ago, so that’s been an adventure.”</p>
<p>“My husband and I started fostering our daughters two years ago, and the adoption was finalized almost a year ago.” Finally it was Damian’s turn to order, which he hoped meant Conner would drop the conversation, but the man just stood waiting for Damian to finish his order. </p>
<p>“That’s great, man! Tim and I are thinking about a second kid, but we’re not sure if we can handle two kids.” The laugh following that statement was much more sincere than any of the other ones during the conversation, and Damian chuckled too. </p>
<p>“I often wonder if just having one would be all that easier, but I’ll never know. Luke and I wanted to start slow, but the social worker wanted to keep the girls together and was having a hard time finding someone who would be willing to take in both girls.”</p>
<p>Conner nodded and was saved from responding by Damian’s coffee order being handed to him. Damian walked to the door with Conner following. Damian turned at the door to say goodbye, but Conner stopped him. </p>
<p>“Hey man, it was good to see you. I know Tim would be thrilled to see you, he misses you.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think that’s a good idea, but I wish Timothy and you the best.” </p>
<p>Damian turned around and left the shop quickly. He cursed himself the entire way. He wanted to reconnect with his family, and Timothy or Richard would be the best place to start. He had the opportunity, but he blew it without even thinking about it. Truth be told, he felt slightly guilty for telling his brothers to stop contacting him, but he often wondered why they stopped so easily. Was he really that terrible of a family member? Damian pushed all the thoughts to the back of his mind as he walked into the vet clinic, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of sadness and disappointment.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Damian finished some light cleaning in the examination room and noticed that his next scheduled appointment was not for forty-five minutes, so he decided to eat his lunch. After checking with Darla up front for any walk-ins, he grabbed his phone from his locker and went into the small break room. He saw that he had a few texts and two missed phone calls.<p>Luke had texted him asking Damian to call their former social worker as he didn’t have the time today until around four, and the other notifications were from the social worker. Texting Luke back that he was calling Stacey now, Damian returned Stacey’s call. He wondered what she wanted to discuss as the girls had been adopted for nearly a year, and she said check-ups would no longer be necessary. Damian and Luke had briefly re-opened their file to potentially foster another kid, but then they moved. They decided their life was too hectic at the time to foster again at this time, and removed their names from the foster pool. </p>
<p>“Hey Damian! Thanks so much for calling back! How’s it going?” Damian frowned at Stacey’s tone, she was being overly nice. </p>
<p>“We’re good, adjusting to the move nicely actually. How are you?”</p>
<p>“Oh I’m great. I know you’re probably busy, so I’ll keep it brief as possible. I was talking to one of my old colleagues who moved to Gotham for a supervisor position for their CPS division. She just found out about this kid who lost his mom, dad, and aunt in a car accident around four months ago. He and his cousin were at home so they weren’t physically hurt, thank goodness. The cousin is with his biological dad, and the guy is applying to be a foster parent so he can raise both kids. He’s running into a lot of red tape, though, so they put the non-bio kid in a temp home.”</p>
<p>“That’s unfortunate.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it is. Well Rachel, that’s my old colleague, just found out that the kid’s CPS agent is extremely religious and placed the boy with her pastor. The kid is transgender so the pastor has been forcing him to go by his dead identity.” </p>
<p>Damian closed his eyes as he realized why Stacey was calling him and Luke. It was terrible what the poor boy went through, losing his parents and then identity in most likely less than a week of each other. </p>
<p>“Stacey that’s horrendous, but Luke and I should not add another kid, even temporary, right now while we are all still learning a new routine.”</p>
<p>“I know, and I understand. But Damian this kid cannot be placed back in a home that will force him to be untrue to himself, and I think Luke can help him work through the issues that the trauma of these last four months have undoubtedly caused.”</p>
<p>Damian sighed, “I need to discuss this with Luke, and we might decide that it is not a good idea, Stacey.”</p>
<p>“Totally understand. Call me when you guys make a decision either way so I can talk to Rachel.” </p>
<p>Damian responded with an affirmative noise and hung up. He put his forehead down on the table in front of him and considered taking the rest of the day off as he needed to make the guest room more friendly. There was no doubt in his mind that they would be taking in the child until the guardian had officially established himself as a foster parent. </p>
<p>He would not usually be opposed to taking in another child, especially one where they could potentially help as Luke was a trans male himself. However, Damain suspected the girls were not adjusting to the move well. They were fighting ten times more than usual, Hannah’s grades were starting to falter, and Kelsey had stopped playing with her soccer ball after she learnt that they had not moved in time for soccer try-outs. Luke was also adjusting to the mental strain from the difference of his clients in New York City and the ones here in Gotham. The cat was even hiding more than it did in New York. </p>
<p>Damian’s phone started buzzing and he looked at the picture of his husband flashing on his screen. </p>
<p>“I thought you were busy until four.”</p>
<p>“Hello to you too, love. I was busy, but I had a cancellation. What did Stacey want?”</p>
<p>“I believe it would be better to discuss it face to face.”</p>
<p>“Her voicemail said it was urgent,” Damian resisted the urge to sigh because of course it did. </p>
<p>“One of her former colleagues now works in Gotham and discovered that an agent placed a transgender boy in a unsuitable home for his temporary placement. As the boy’s future permanent guardian is fighting red tape to be a foster parent, they need to place the boy somewhere he can be his true identity, and with someone who can help with any issues he faces after months of being forced to present as his dead identity. Stacey thought of us.”</p>
<p>“How long will he be with us?”</p>
<p>“I am unsure of the future’s guardian status, but he has been in the foster system for approximately four months.” </p>
<p>“Fuck. So do we need to call Stacey to tell her we’ll take him, or will we need to call the person here in Gotham?”</p>
<p>“Luke I understand where your urgency is coming from, but I believe we need to take some time to think this through -”</p>
<p>“Fuck that Damian. We’re going to take him until he is placed in his permanent home.”</p>
<p>“I also think we should discuss this with our daughters before making a decision.”</p>
<p>“It’s not going to be permanent, and they’ll be fine. This kid might not be. Call whoever, we’re taking him unless you really think we shouldn’t.” </p>
<p>Damian did not have a chance to say anything else as Luke hung up. Damian felt a surge of anger rise up through him at Luke brushing off his concerns. He understood where Luke was coming from, he really did, but this was not a decision they should just make so suddenly. Damian was surprised to see that Luke was calling him again, and answered wearily. </p>
<p>“Yes?”</p>
<p>“Sorry, Dami, it was unfair of me to completely brush off your concerns. I understand why you want to discuss the matter, I really do. I’ve also noticed the girls aren’t adjusting as well as we would like. I don’t think taking in a temporary foster kid will shake them that much, though.” </p>
<p>Damian was silent as he thought about what Luke said, and while he didn’t agree, he knew Luke was not going to change his stance. He didn’t blame his husband for it, but he was still afraid of the potential fallout.</p>
<p>“I’m not so sure about that, but I will call Stacey. We will talk to Hannah and Kelsey together.” </p>
<p>“Absolutely, Damian. Everything will be fine, darling, you’ll see,” Damian hummed and hung up. </p>
<p>He took a deep breath and called Stacey.  </p>
<p>“That was quick.”</p>
<p>“Luke had a cancellation. We have decided to take over the temporary placement of the child. What do we need to do?”</p>
<p>“Great! I’ll call Rachel and tell her; your guy’s file was already reopened in the hope you would say yes. The kid will probably be in your care by the end of the day.”</p>
<p>“That quickly? I thought the paperwork took time.”</p>
<p>“Usually it does, but he’s being placed on the recommendation of your former social worker. Also Rachel is the supervisor, so she can rush placements through.”</p>
<p>“If that’s the case, why has the permanent guardian not been granted his license?”</p>
<p>“He’s a single parent with a new kid, a criminal background starting from childhood even though he’s straight now, an one-bedroom in Crime Alley, no references outside of family, doesn’t get paid much, and the old social worker didn’t like him. Rachel is pushing his application forward as fast as she can, but he has a lot of marks against him. The application should be approved within eight months, but I wouldn’t expect less than six months.”</p>
<p>“I understand.”</p>
<p>“Great I’ll call Rachel now. I’ll give her this number, and she’ll be in touch. I know you’re having a lot of doubts about this Damian, but I know you guys will be great.” </p>
<p>Damian looked at his watch and realized that he only had eight minutes until his next appointment. He went to the other vet, Hayley, and briefly explained what was going on, who immediately said she would cover him for the rest of the day. Then he went to Darla to request that the three other appointments be moved to Hayley’s appointments or rescheduled. He made a mental note to buy his two co-workers dinner for their willingness to help. The entire time Damian was talking to the owner of a sweet golden retriever, he was mentally calculating what he needed to do to prepare for the child that would most likely be in his home by nightfall.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>“How old is he? What is his favorite color? His pronouns are he/him, correct?”<p>“Jordan is fourteen, his birthday was in December. I don’t know about his favorite color, but he picked three green shirts while shopping. The pastor, who’s being thoroughly investigated, destroyed all of Jordan’s clothes and bought him only feminine items. I bought him a few items, but he definitely needs more clothes for a wardrobe. We can help with that, just save the receipts. And yes, he told me yesterday that his pronouns are he/him.”</p>
<p>“Stacey mentioned a cousin, and that the cousin’s guardian is currently applying to be a foster parent for Jordan. When are their current scheduled meetings?”</p>
<p>“That’s actually the reason I found out about this case; the guardian, Jason, walked into my office last week upset that his son had not seen his cousin since the funeral.” </p>
<p>Damian stopped short in the Target he was shopping at to buy the essentials for Jordan and his room.</p>
<p>“That is horrific. What is the reasoning?” There was a beat of silence on the other end of the phone. </p>
<p>“The social worker, who has now been fired, did not like Jason, so she did not pass along the information of Jordan’s surviving family to the pastor.”</p>
<p>“Will you be giving us his phone number, or vice versa?”</p>
<p>“I’ll give you Jason’s number. He gave me permission for it.”</p>
<p>“I will not hesitate to contact him,” Rachel hummed at that. </p>
<p>“Jordan is in school today, and he should be here at the office by four. What time can you come and pick him up?”</p>
<p>“I also need to pick up my daughters from school and inform them of this change. So can we plan for after five?”</p>
<p>“That will work. I will be waiting.”</p>
<p>“Then I shall see you after five.”</p>
<p>Damian winced at the total when he rang up the essentials, knowing that cost would be at least tripled once Jordan picked out things to decorate his room. They also needed to factor in the cost of clothes, potential dietary restrictions, hobbies and interests, and school fees. Damian checked his phone and saw that he would need to pick up the girls in about an hour. That gave him just enough time to go home, put away the new things, and leave to pick up the girls. He had been practicing what he and Luke would say to the girls for the last few hours, but he felt woefully underprepared for the upcoming conversation.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>“Girls, Luke and I have something to tell you, and we encourage you to ask any questions you might have.”<p>“Is it about why you were putting furniture in the guest room?”</p>
<p>“Yes, Hannah. We received a call today from Stacey about a boy who needed to be placed in a different home for a few months until his permanent guardian is approved. He is coming tonight, and I hope that you welcome him with open arms.”</p>
<p>“Why us, Baba?”</p>
<p>“Well, Kels, he is transgender like I am, and the place he was at before forced him to act like a girl.”</p>
<p>“Why did they do that?”</p>
<p>“Because there are still some close-minded people in the world who don’t accept transgender people.”</p>
<p>“When are we picking him up?” Hannah asked, her voice emotionless.</p>
<p>Damian had been watching Hannah and Kelsey for their reaction and was very concerned over the way Hannah had deliberately put on an emotionless face the entire conversation. It was concerning. </p>
<p>“We are going to leave to pick him up after we finish this conversation,” Hannah nodded and looked away from Damian and Luke. Luke seemed to not notice the way Hannah was acting, and Damian desperately wished to have more time to talk to her, “Are there any more questions?”</p>
<p>“What happened to his parents?”</p>
<p>“They unfortunately died in a car accident only a few months ago, so it might be best for Jordan not to ask without him bringing it up first,” Kelsey nodded and hugged her shark closer to her chest, probably thinking about her own mother’s death. “I believe it would be best to avoid his placement before us without him volunteering the information, as well,” again Kelsey nodded her understanding. </p>
<p>“Well, let’s go pick up the newest addition to our family. Do you want to drive, Damian, or shall I?” Damian shrugged to convey how he did not care in the slightest who drove. </p>
<p>The drive to the agency was short but filled with questions from Kelsey about the boy. Most of them Damian could not answer, but he tried to answer as many as possible. When they reached the agency, Damian told Luke and Hannah to go ahead and he looked down at Kelsey. </p>
<p>“I know you are very excited about this, and that is wonderful. However I want to prepare you for the chance that Jordan will not be excited. There is a possibility that he will be cold at first, maybe even the entire time, and might not answer your questions or return your joy. Please do not take it personally, he has just gone through a lot of changes in a short amount of time.”</p>
<p>“I know, Baba, but I’ll be nice the entire time because I remember how scared I was when Mommy died,” Damian smiled at his daughter. </p>
<p>“That’s wonderful, Abnataya. Just don’t overwhelm him.” </p>
<p>“I won’t.” </p>
<p>Kelsey rolled her eyes while answering, which made Damian believe that she didn’t think it was a real possibility. Another thing he needed to keep an eye on. Damian grabbed Kelsey’s hand and joined the others waiting at the door. He grabbed Luke’s hand and squeezed it before letting go to ring the door buzzer. </p>
<p>A petite woman with shoulder length black hair came to the door, and glanced at Damian, probably a little wary of his height and bulk. Damian had taken after his father in height and build, so he stood over 6’3 with broad shoulders and muscles obvious even in loose fitting clothing. It did not help that Damian had never mastered schooling his face in a friendly expression, which was not great for the time he relied on tips as a waiter. He tried to plaster a friendly smile on his face, and dropped it when the woman squinted her eyes at them. She opened the door and stuck her hand out.   </p>
<p>“The Wayne-Millers, I presume,” Damian shook her hand and nodded. “Good. Jordan is through here. I don’t believe he is overly thrilled to be going with you all, but he’s not mutinous about it.” </p>
<p>Damian internally sighed, and added yet another thing to watch for to his list. He wasn’t surprised though. Less than a minute later, Rachel was introducing the family to Jordan; he was an average sized fourteen year old with dark brown hair that was a few inches below his shoulders, brown eyes, and a severe looking frown. </p>
<p>“Jordan, the Wayne-Millers are here.” </p>
<p>Jordan continued to stare at the family with a dark look in his eyes. Damian did not expect differently, quite honestly. He was waiting for Luke to introduce the family to the teen, but it seemed like Luke was frozen. Damian cleared his throat before sticking his hand out to the teenager. </p>
<p>“Hello, Jordan. I am Damian. This is Luke, my husband, and our two daughters, Hannah and Kelsey,” he pointed at each of his family members as he spoke. </p>
<p>Jordan just stared at Damian’s hand without making a move to shake. Damian let his hand fall awkwardly before trying to force his face into something more pleasant. Kelsey looked at Damian and then spoke up. </p>
<p>“Hi Jordan, I’m Kelsey, but you can call me Kels. Baba is the only who says my entire name, unless someone’s been trying to get my attention for a long time. Your room is going to be upstairs next to mine. I’m six and my very, most favorite animal in the world is a shark! What’s your most favorite animal?”</p>
<p>Jordan finally stopped staring at Damian to look at Kelsey. He looked overwhelmed by the energy of the six year old, which Damian was afraid would happen. Then he smiled slightly before speaking to her. </p>
<p>“I really like birds, my favorite is the American Goldfinch. It’s the state bird here in New Jersey.”</p>
<p>“That’s so cool! Do you have pictures?”</p>
<p>“I have some pictures from when they would feed from our bird-feeders.”</p>
<p>Damian watched the two interact for a short time before turning to Rachel. She nodded and led them over to her desk. It was covered in papers, which made Damian cringe. He was never a fan of messes but had to live with the fact that children were messy, seemingly as a rule. She barked out a laugh.</p>
<p>“I’ve barely started supervising this office and had to pick up multiple cases from a worker that I fired for willfully placing a child in a home that would be mentally harmful, so don’t you dare say anything about the state of my desk,” Damian lifted his hands in surrender. </p>
<p>“I wouldn’t dream of it. What is the number of his uncle? I would like to start communication.” </p>
<p>Rachel nodded and handed him a sheet of paper. The next thirty minutes Damian filled out the necessary paperwork while Kelsey and Jordan miraculously started bonding.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Saturday March 11th</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jordan and Felix are re-united.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is my first time writing any of the BatFam, so sorry if any of the characters are OOC. Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Damian woke up and relished the peace of the morning, because he knew in just twenty minutes the house would be engulfed in chaos. The family was not seamlessly adjusting to the addition of Jordan, and Jordan was not over-thrilled by the family, with the exception of Kelsey. It was wonderful that Kelsey and Jordan were getting along so well. However, Hannah, who had already not been thrilled with the addition, was slowly becoming more with-drawn as her jealousy of the other two kids’ quick bond kept growing.  </p>
<p>Then Damian realized that it was Saturday, so he did not need to wrestle with three children to prepare for school. Then drive them there, preferably on time, and finish it by getting to work on time himself. The last two days were exhausting and Damian briefly thought of going back to sleep, but even without school, Kelsey would still be waking up in twenty minutes. So he arose out of bed and walked downstairs to the kitchen. </p>
<p>He was surprised to see Jordan already in the kitchen, staring out the window with an unreadable expression on his face. Then he noticed the birds flying around out the window and realized what was going through the teenager’s mind. Damian had guessed that Jordan and his family often bonded over birds. </p>
<p>“If you would like, we can purchase a bird feeder when we are out today.”</p>
<p>Jordan startled, which was not Damian’s intention, and spun around to look at him, “No thanks.” </p>
<p>Damian barely resisted rolling his eyes. The teenager had been protesting the idea of going shopping for new clothes, things, and whatever else he needed. Damian had not been able to establish if it was because he liked what he had, or if he did not want Damian to spend the money. </p>
<p>“If you change your mind, let me know. Would you like to help with breakfast?” </p>
<p>“What do you want me to do?” He sounded defensive, which made Damian more cautious. </p>
<p>“I think we should have pancakes, so what are you comfortable with doing?” </p>
<p>“I can help make the batter.”</p>
<p>“Wonderful.” Damian debated if he should bring up the shopping trip, and decided it would be best to discuss it now instead of around everyone else, “Jordan we will not make you purchase new things, and we will definitely not destroy the items you already have. The shopping trip purpose is to give you more items that you want to have, and should already have. Rachel will be reimbursing us.” </p>
<p>Damian decided to leave the reimbursing statement vague, as he did not intend to be reimbursed for much; they had chosen to take in the child, so they would be providing for the child. Jordan looked surprised at Damian’s statement, and for the first time seemed to consider the shopping trip in earnest. </p>
<p>“I definitely need new shoes, and maybe some more clothes?” Damian nodded which seemed to spur the teenager on. “I actually would like a bird feeder, if that’s ok. It won’t be that much.” </p>
<p>“We want you to be comfortable, Jordan. The cost of it, as long as you don’t go overboard, is not important to us,” Jordan looked skeptical, but nodded his head. </p>
<p>He looked hesitant, but then quietly said, “The pastor burnt all of my graphic novels, he said they were the devil’s work. So could I get my favorite one by Neil Gaiman again?”</p>
<p>Damian had to swallow his anger at the abhorrent behaviour of Jordan’s former guardian; he did not want the teenager to believe the anger was directed at him, “Of course, you can even pick up more if you would like.” </p>
<p>“Thanks,” he whispered. Damian hummed and tested the griddle to see if it was hot enough to start cooking the pancakes. Not entirely sure, Damian had made pancakes maybe twice before, he decided to risk it. </p>
<p>Jordan threw his hand out, “It is not nearly hot enough to start cooking the pancakes; do you even know how to make pancakes?”</p>
<p>Damian thought Jordan was teasing him instead of being rude, which was a good sign, but Damian didn’t have to like it. </p>
<p>“I’ve made them twice, but I am not an expert,” he said with an over-exaggerated haughty voice, and nearly winced as he realized it was the same tone he spoke in as a child.</p>
<p>“I can tell,” Damian narrowed his eyes at the teen and decided to change the subject before the teasing continued. </p>
<p>“How old is your cousin, and will you be buying him a gift for your meeting today?” </p>
<p>Jordan looked at Damian with extreme surprise. Damian tried to think back, but he was sure that someone had told Jordan of the meeting that afternoon. </p>
<p>“Felix is six,” well that explains the quick bond with Kelsey, who was also six. “What meeting today?” </p>
<p>“I apologize, Jordan; I thought someone had informed you that I have been in contact with your uncle. We had planned on meeting each other at the park this afternoon, but if you do not think it is the right time, we can reschedule.”</p>
<p>“No,” he said quickly. “Today is amazing. I haven’t seen Felix in four months. I miss him.” </p>
<p>Damian noticed that Jordan was nearly in tears; Damian wondered if he should comfort the teen, or if that would be too assuming. </p>
<p>Jordan cleared his throat and blinked back the tears before continuing, “I don’t have any money to buy him a present, though.”</p>
<p>“Yes, well, you will be receiving an allowance from us if you do your chores and try in school. I was planning on waiting to give you the allowance until this evening so you would not feel obligated to pay for the supplies purchased today. However, I can give you the allowance before you leave so you can purchase something for your cousin, if you want.” </p>
<p>“Ok,” Damian was thankful that Jordan did not argue over the allowance, but was slightly surprised. </p>
<p>“Would you rather Luke or I go with you to the meeting? The other will be staying home with Hannah and Kelsey, unless you would rather them accompany you?”</p>
<p>“No thanks.” Damian nodded, he expected that answer. “Whoever is fine.” </p>
<p><i> Well that is certainly helpful, </i> Damian thought. It would probably be him staying with the girls then, as he was not very good meeting new people.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Jason looked around his apartment with a sense of melancholy, it was the first apartment he rented legitimately and he had been here quite some time. He had been avoiding trying to find a new apartment, because, from what he could tell, a three bedroom would be out of his price range. Bruce would tell him that his trust fund would more than cover the cost, but he had not relied on Bruce since he was a teenager. And he did not intend to rely on the asshole now.<p>Jason grudgingly admitted that if he dipped into his trust fund then the whole “<i>You barely make enough to cover the living cost of you and Felix, so adding another kid would almost be considered impossible if this an accurate estimation of your wages</i>” strike against him would go away. </p>
<p>The new social worker was much nicer than the first one, but she did not mince her words.</p>
<p>Jason didn’t want to move out of Crime Alley, either, but the social worker told him he would need to move away to have his foster parent application approved. He volunteered at a few different shelters that were close to his apartment, but he had dropped down his hours to only weekends when Felix moved in. Moving somewhere closer to his job as a Literature professor at Gotham University would be nice, though. It would also mean a better school for Felix, because he was not sending his son to Gotham Academy, no matter what Bruce said. He did feel slightly guilty for not sending his son to the admittedly better school, but they were such pricks. His love for school was the only reason he enjoyed going to class there when he was growing up. </p>
<p>He also had to start talking to his co-workers to gain references that weren’t his family, which was bullshit. His co-workers were pretentious assholes, like Bruce, and being around them made him miserable. It was a necessary evil though, since he could not erase his criminal record. He had done some shit to survive before Bruce adopted him, and then started doing crime again when he came back from his year as a hostage and year of training by Talia. The year with Talia was also when he started using and she took him back to Gotham to not deal with that problem. Luckily he never murdered anyone outside of Talia’s training, or Bruce wouldn’t have been able to keep him out of jail. Just some drug stuff and stealing, which was hard, but not impossible, to find a record of thanks to Bruce and Babs. He went to therapy, rehab, and started figuring his shit out, so he was straight and clean now, had been for almost fifteen years. </p>
<p>He sighed as he remembered his life from the time he was fifteen, when he was kidnapped for being Bruce Wayne’s son and held there for a year, until he was twenty, when Alfie had finally convinced him to stop his destructive path. He went to a drug rehab center, found a therapist when he got out, was ordered to do community service instead of jail time by a judge that felt for Bruce (who had basically disowned him throughout this entire time, and he would die believing that no matter what Dick said), and got his GED before he turned twenty-one. He went on to go to college, earning a doctorate in Literature, and Bruce helped him get a job at Gotham University, which he didn’t know about at the time and has not spoken to the interfering prick in the six months since he found out. Bruce had been reaching out, at least once a week, to talk about it, but Jason was sick of owing something to that man. </p>
<p>He also had been ignoring the rest of his family since Felix came into his life, four months ago. His son, who he didn’t know about until Felix and his cousin were dropped off at his apartment, was still adjusting to his life with Jason. Jason wanted Felix to be in regular contact with his cousin, Jordan, before introducing him to new cousins because he was afraid the kid would think Jason was trying to erase his old life. He didn’t want to do that at all, as the kid came from a loving and happy home. Jason wished he had known Eliza, Felix’s mother, a little better, but they had only gone on a few dates after meeting at a fundraiser he was forced to attend. He really wanted to be able to tell the kid some stories, especially since the kid was so young that he might not remember much of her when he grew up. </p>
<p>He was so relieved that Jordan’s new foster parents, David and Luke he was pretty sure, were completely on board with letting Felix and Jordan contact each other. He was pissed that the old social worker had decided to keep the kids away from each other because the bitch didn’t like him. The two did not have any other family they had ever met and he thought the goal was to keep families together. He scoffed at his own thoughts, he knew first hand how shitty foster care was in Gotham. He looked at the time and realized they needed to leave for the park to meet Jordan if they wanted to be on time. </p>
<p>“Hey kiddo, put your shoes on. We’re going to the park,” Felix ran out of his room, previously Jason’s room but he thought the kid needed privacy, and looked at him. </p>
<p>The kid looked like what he remembered of Eliza, her curly brown hair and eyes, but the kid had Jason’s freckles. It made for a cute kid.  </p>
<p>“Why are we going to the park?” Jason didn’t tell him about the meeting in case something happened; he didn’t want to disappoint the kid. </p>
<p>“Because it’s Saturday, and not dreary for once in Gotham’s history,” Felix still looked suspicious, but then whooped and ran into his room for his shoes. </p>
<p>Jason did not understand how the kid had so much energy in one moment and then became reserved and thoughtful in the next, but he was learning how to adjust to the mental whiplash of the moods. The child grief counselor he took Felix to said the mood swings were a good sign, but Jason was afraid that Felix was hiding his sadness when he was excited. </p>
<p>Once they were dressed and in the car, Dick called. </p>
<p>“Dickface, why are you calling me?” </p>
<p>“That hurts, little wing,” Jason rolled his eyes at both Dick’s statement and the nickname.</p>
<p> It was the first time he had been on the phone with any member of his family while Felix was around, so he wondered how Felix would react. </p>
<p>“No it doesn’t. Why are you calling?”</p>
<p>“Well as you know, Alfie’s birthday is in a little less than a month. So Timmy and I are going to throw a surprise birthday! You only turn 85 once, you know. I was calling to ask if you would help plan. I’m calling Cass next.”</p>
<p>“Of course I’ll help, but I’m not talking to the old man.” Jason quickly corrected his statement, “Not Alfie, Bruce.” </p>
<p>“Of course.” Dick sighed and sounded resigned to it. “Well I think all of us siblings should get together sometime within the week to start planning!” There was a short pause, “Should I try and call Dami?” </p>
<p>Jason hated how Dick sounded. The only time he sounded that miserable was when he brought up the demon spawn. The kid had told Dick to not reach out when he turned eighteen and Dick wanted to give him time so he respected the kid’s wishes, which was all he really knew about it. He had been in a different state for college at the time of the huge fight between the old man and the brat.</p>
<p>“Do you have his number?” </p>
<p>There was another pause before Dick answered, “No. I tried to call him a couple of years after he left because I realized he wasn’t like me and wasn’t going to come back after a bit of space, but he had changed it. I should have gotten Barb or Tim to get his number for me anyways.” </p>
<p>“No you shouldn’t have. He told you to leave him alone. You haven’t changed your number, so it’s on him to reach out.” </p>
<p>“But we forgot about him!” </p>
<p>“No, Bruce forgot about him. You lost information and memories because of brain damage from a car accident that you nearly died in.” </p>
<p>“Still…” </p>
<p>“Dick, you have had this conversation with all of us multiple times throughout the years.”</p>
<p>“You’re right, Jay. I just feel guilty all the time!”</p>
<p>“So does Tim; you guys should form a club about it.”</p>
<p>“Not funny.”</p>
<p>“I thought it was. Listen, I gotta go.”</p>
<p>“Ok, I’ll text you with when and where we should meet up for the party planning. Bye Jay!”</p>
<p>“Bye Dickface.” </p>
<p>Jason hung up the phone as he pulled into a parking spot near the park. He looked at his phone for a message cancelling the park meeting, and was relieved not to see one. The meeting was scheduled for five minutes from now, and David seemed like the type who would send word in advance if he was going to cancel. Turning around to look at his son, Jason tried to decide if it would be best to tell him the real purpose for the meeting or surprise him. Felix was looking at him with his head cocked to the side with a confused look.</p>
<p>“Who was that, Daddy?” </p>
<p>“My brother, so I guess your uncle.”</p>
<p>“Why did you call him a mean name then?” His son looked scandalized which made Jason chuckle. </p>
<p>“Because he’s my brother; his name is actually Dick though.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” </p>
<p>“Come on, let’s go play in the park.” Jason decided to surprise him.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Jordan looked out the window as Luke drove him to the park, and tried to keep his excitement level down. He wanted to believe that Luke and Damian were being honest and he was really going to see Felix, but the pastor had told him if he stopped wearing boys clothes, he would get to see Felix. That was a lie. The pastor even pretended to not know about Felix when Rachel asked about it.<p>Damian wasn’t the pastor, though. Jordan hoped that he wasn’t wrong about Damian and Luke, though. </p>
<p>He still couldn’t believe that Damian had bought him two graphic novels, a bird feeder, new clothes, and shoes. He was grateful for Rachel buying him some pants and shirts since the pastor had been forcing him to only wear dresses for the last three months, but he was excited to wear the new comic book shirts he got today. </p>
<p>Jordan looked down at the toy he had purchased for Felix, a yo-yo because Felix loved “old” toys. Jordan was hoping that Felix would be happy to see him, but was afraid <br/>Felix would think that Jordan had abandoned him. Jordan had started biting his nails again, something he had stopped doing a few years ago, but the habit had recently reemerged due to stress. Luke had been trying to engage Jordan in conversation, probably to take his mind off of the upcoming meeting. Jordan, though, was steadfastly only giving him one-worded answers. </p>
<p>“So why a yo-yo? Those are a little retro, even for me,” Luke laughed a little and Jordan forced out a chuckle. </p>
<p>“Felix likes retro toys,” Jordan wasn’t sure if he liked Luke. </p>
<p>He knew Luke is a psychiatrist, and was probably trying to analyze him after the massive changes that had happened in less than two weeks. Jordan does like Damian, though, probably because he feels like Damian would never be fake about his intentions. It’s obvious that Hannah didn’t like him, which he understood, and he was quickly bonding with Kelsey because she reminded him of Felix. Except she was constantly talking and excited where Felix jumped back and forth between extreme amounts of energy and quiet reservedness. </p>
<p>“That’s cool. I like retro cars.” </p>
<p>“Cool.” </p>
<p>“Oh sweet, we’re here. Let’s see, we have about eight minutes before we were supposed to meet them. Do you know what Jason looks like?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I stayed with him for about a week right after the accident until a few hours after the funeral, then Matilda moved me to the pastor’s house.” </p>
<p>“Alright, will you point him out to me when you see him. I want to talk to him about a schedule for this.” </p>
<p>Jordan nodded and stood next to Luke watching the entrance closest to them where they were supposed to link up. After a few minutes, which felt like forever to Jordan, he saw Felix and Jason walking into the park. </p>
<p>“That’s him.” </p>
<p>He pointed to the tall man, probably only a few inches shorter than Damian, in a leather jacket with black hair and white bangs falling into his face. Holding Jason’s hand was Felix, and Jordan’s knees buckled; he was overcome by emotion seeing his cousin for the first time in months. His baby cousin who could light up any room with his smile, loved old toys, and fastly became friends with anyone he talked to. </p>
<p>Jordan had been babysitting Felix that night for his Aunt Eliza, his mom’s sister. Aunt Eliza, Mom, and Dad had all been together volunteering at the shelter they had set up a few years prior. Jordan and Felix were watching one of the Star Wars movies, Jordan couldn’t remember which now, when the police officer and Matilda knocked on the door. They had to pack some clothes and essentials, and then went to Jason’s apartment. That week passed by in a haze, he could barely remember his own parent’s funeral, but Jason had been kind. Then hours after the funeral, Matilda knocked on Jason’s door and took Jordan to the pastor’s house.</p>
<p>Jordan didn’t call out to his cousin, not because he didn’t want to, but because his throat had closed up. Jason had seen him and stopped, though. Jason bent down to talk to Felix and then pointed over in the direction of Jordan. Apparently Jason had not told Felix the reason for going to the park, probably in case it didn’t actually happen, because Jordan could see Felixes eyes widened in surprise at his father before looking over. Jordan and Felix stood frozen staring at each other for a heartbeat before Felix shouted “Jordan!” and ran over towards him. </p>
<p>Jordan bent down and opened his arms two seconds before Felix barreled into them. Jordan hugged his cousin fiercely and could barely believe this was real. </p>
<p>Jordan blinked back tears and whispered, “Hey, lucky lad. I’ve missed you.” </p>
<p>Felix hugged Jordan even tighter before saying, “I’ve missed you too Jordy,” with a voice thick with tears. </p>
<p>They stayed hugging, and crying, for several minutes before pulling away. </p>
<p>“I’ve bought you something.”</p>
<p>“What is it?” Felix was bouncing on his toes, but Jordan thought it might be over seeing him again instead of the promise of a present. </p>
<p>“Here,” He handed Felix the yo-yo and saw his face light up before squealing. </p>
<p>“Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your birthday/Christmas present is at home because I didn’t know I was seeing you today. I wish I could have given it to you on your birthday” </p>
<p>Jordan winced and he thought of his birthday almost three months ago; that was the day he realized the pastor wouldn’t let him see Felix and rebelled against the girl clothes. Two days later, he was grounded and watching all of his old clothes and things burn. </p>
<p>“That’s all right, luck-master. Seeing you again is a good enough gift.” </p>
<p>“Ah, how sweet. As luck would have it, I knew we were supposed to see you today and secretly grabbed the gift last night. Sorry for the secret, Felix, I just didn’t want you to be upset if it didn’t happen.” </p>
<p>Jason handed Jordan a wrapped box, and he thanked him. Felix sent an angry look up at Jason, but then smiled at his father. Jordan opened the gift and saw it was all of the issues he was missing from <i>The Dreaming</i>. </p>
<p>“Thanks, guys. This was so thoughtful, I love it! I couldn’t buy you anything for Christmas, but I’ll get you something really good for your birthday.” </p>
<p>Felix smiled and they spent nearly three hours in the park talking and spending time together. Jordan got into Luke’s car with a smile of his face and stayed in a good mood for the rest of the weekend.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Edit on 8/24 - I revised Jason from being clean for over 15 years, to almost 15 years as I realized that I had the timeline off by a year.</p>
<p>*Edit on 3/7 - I updated with slight grammatical and style changes. Please let me know if I missed any errors.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Monday, March 20th</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tim stakes out the cafe until he sees Damian, Jordan and Hannah have a small fight, and a dinner.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As always, thanks for reading and comment about anything that is not accurate or I need to fix. I'm not the best editor, so please point out any mistakes.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tim sat at the cafe and berated himself for the hundredth time since he sat down with Malachi, his and Conner’s five year old son. Tim kept wondering what he was doing in the cafe that Conner had seen Damian in nearly two weeks ago, and bit his lip as he thought about how he had come to this cafe every day for the last week. It was stalker behavior. He knew that and Conner knew that, which was probably why Conner kept trying to talk him out of camping out in the cafe for an hour and a half each morning. </p>
<p>He glanced down at his son and saw the kid was about to spill his hot chocolate. Barely preventing the disaster in time, he didn’t see Damian walk in, but did notice his younger brother when the man joined the line less than ten feet away. Tim’s heart started beating so fast that Conner would probably make him go to the doctor, or, even worse, make him cut back on his coffee intake. </p>
<p>Malachi must have sensed his distress because the little boy asked loudly, “What’s wrong Daddy?” </p>
<p>Tim started to answer, but Damian had glanced towards the pair. Tim’s rapidly beating heart stopped suddenly, and all the air rushed out of his lungs. Unwittingly, Tim was thrust back nine years ago, standing on the sidewalk of Los Angeles and reading a text from his little brother. Tim and Conner had gone down to San Francisco, purchased a small home, and were going to surprise Damian for his birthday. The text had requested that Tim stop sending birthday wishes as he was fed up with only hearing from Tim on his birthday. </p>
<p>Tim had been heartbroken because he knew Damian had a right to request the end of the birthday wishes and understood the reason, but Tim had written so many more messages throughout the years following Damian’s eighteenth birthday. He never had sent them because he wasn’t that close to Damian when the boy had lived in Gotham, and thought Damian had hated him still, quite honestly. He was afraid that his messages to reach out to Damian would not be received well, and that fear has haunted him all of these years. Would Damian have let the family reach out to him if Tim had fought against Damian’s request or just pushed send to those countless other messages? </p>
<p>Tim pushed back those thoughts, as he had done countless times over the years, and focused on what was happening in that moment. Damian had noticed him, and he looked pissed. Tim bit his lip, and decided to approach Damian casually. </p>
<p><i>Hey, what’s up little bro? I was in the area, and you know me, the coffee junkie, decided to stop in this cafe. It’s pretty chill, don’t you think?</i> Tim internally cringed over his mental dialogue; this was why he was never cool in school. </p>
<p>Walking over to Damian, holding Malachi’s hand, he vowed to be casual in greeting his estranged brother.</p>
<p>Instead he said, “Conner mentioned seeing you here a couple of weeks ago.” </p>
<p>Tim hated himself in that moment and whatever made that come out of his mouth. Now Damian would definitely think Tim was a stalker. Damian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Yep, Damian was pissed. </p>
<p>“Hello Timothy. Is this your son?” Damian didn’t try to smile at the boy, but did make his face less pinched. </p>
<p>“Yeah, this is Malachi,” Damian hummed and crouched down to talk to Malachi.</p>
<p>“Hello Malachi, I am Damian. I am your father’s adopted brother. How old are you?” </p>
<p>“Five! I’m in Kindergarten!” Malachi started bouncing; he loved school. </p>
<p>Damian smiled at that, and it made his face warmer. Tim was slightly fascinated because as a teenager, he did not think he would ever see Damian smile.</p>
<p>“I have a six year old daughter. Her name is Kelsey,” Tim saw Malachi’s eyes grow round, seemingly taking up half of his face, and Damian chuckled. </p>
<p>Malachi looked up at Tim, and he knew his son would be pestering him to meet his cousin until he drove Tim crazy. Malachi didn’t have any cousins close to his age. Mari, Dick’s daughter with his former girlfriend Kori, was eleven. Steph’s and Cass’s daughter, May, was a newborn. Jason didn’t have any kids that he knew of, and neither did Jonathan or Helena. The biggest injustice in Malachi’s life right now was that he did not have any family around his age to play with. Tim and Conner were trying to sell the old, “May is your baby cousin, so you need to watch out for her,” card, but Malachi wasn’t buying it. He hoped that Damian would at least let the kids connect with each other, so that he wouldn’t go crazy. </p>
<p>Damian stood up and looked at Tim. He sighed deeply, and Tim noticed how exhausted his brother looked. He wanted to ask about it, but thought that asking would be crossing a line. </p>
<p>Desperately trying to avoid asking about the exhaustion Tim blurted out, “We moved to San Francisco for you.” </p>
<p>Tim closed his eyes and nearly died on the spot; that was much worse than asking his brother why he looked so tired. Tim opened his eyes and Damian looked gobsmacked.</p>
<p>“Not completely for you, Conner and I loved San Francisco. We spent a lot of time there throughout the years before moving. However, a big factor in our decision to move there full-time was to be closer to you since you didn’t have anyone close to you, other than your boyfriend,” Damian’s face had not changed at all, so Tim decided to press forward. “I didn’t mean to only reach out on your birthday. I wrote so many messages and emails to you, but I never sent them. I’m sorry.” </p>
<p>Tim wanted to pick up Malachi and run out of the cafe, and not stop running until he reached Pennsylvania. He wouldn’t mention to Damian that since his brother requested that they no longer have any contact with each other, Tim annually donated a large sum to animal rescue programs in Damian’s honor for his birthday and Christmas, or that he donated to various LGBTQ+ charities on Damian’s anniversary. Tim knew it was creepy, but he had wanted to make sure his brother was doing ok, so he had kept tabs on Damian. Nobody knew about the monthly internet scan, not even Conner. </p>
<p>Damian finally cleared his face, “That’s a lot of information to process, especially early in the morning.”</p>
<p>“I know, I’m sorry. Here. This is my cell phone number; reach out if you want, but I won’t pressure you,” Tim handed Damian the card he had already written his number on, hoping that he would be able to give it to Damian. “I’ve missed you, we all have.” </p>
<p>Tim walked out of the cafe without looking back. He didn’t want to know what Damian did with the card, and he was too afraid to look at Damian’s face. Tim went through the rest of his daily routine, and turned off his phone after checking it for the thousandth time before lunch. The only option he had was to wait and see what would happen.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Jordan sat in the front seat of Damian’s car and glanced at the man from the side of his eyes. Something was wrong with him, but Jordan doubted the man would spill the beans without being prompted to. Kelsey sang along with the radio, seemingly oblivious to her father’s tension, and Jordan had no idea if Hannah noticed anything wrong. Jordan had to fight down the urge to glare at Hannah, since the girl was glaring at him. She was a brat, but Damian and Luke had been getting on her case to be nicer to Jordan, so he shouldn’t stoop to her level.<p>Jordan was slightly afraid that Damian’s bad mood was about the dinner that they were having with Jason and Felix later on that night. Jordan had seen Felix three additional times since the day at the park. Tonight, though, the girls and Damian would be meeting Jason and Felix too, but if Damian was pissed about that, then it might not happen. </p>
<p>Jordan felt slightly bummed about the thought. Damian, Luke, and Kelsey were cool, the jury was still out on Hannah, and he wanted Felix to meet them. Damian pulled into the cute two-story house they lived in, and Kelsey and Hannah rushed out, probably to go eat a snack in the kitchen before dinner. Jordan waited in the car, wanting to ask Damian, but afraid of the answer. They hadn’t been terrible to him before for asking questions, so he decided to risk it. </p>
<p>“Are you upset over the dinner tonight?” Damian looked over, surprised. </p>
<p>He cursed quietly, well Jordan thought it was probably a curse since it was in Arabic. This just put Jordan on edge even more. </p>
<p>“No. I ran into someone from my past this morning, and I am still processing the interaction,” Jordan nodded; when he ran into one of his old school friends while living with the pastor, he obsessed over it for a week. </p>
<p>“What happened?” Damian sighed and ran his hand down his face. </p>
<p>It must have been really bad. </p>
<p>Damian seemed to be choosing his words very carefully, “I left Gotham on bad terms with my family when I was eighteen, bad enough terms that we have not spoken to each other since. The exception was one of my older brothers who remembered to wish me birthday wishes, but I only heard from him once a year. I messaged him on his birthday and received a ‘Thanks!’, but I don’t count that. On my twentieth birthday I discovered that my boyfriend at the time was cheating on me, and I was hurt that he was only pretending to care for me. I told my brother to stop contacting me as well, since I believed he did not actually care about me either. I ran into him today, and his side of the story is different.” </p>
<p>Jordan nodded again, and thought over what Damian had said. He did not really know Damian well enough to offer advice, but he thought Damian might want someone else’s point of view. </p>
<p>“Maybe he couldn’t talk to you anymore than the birthdays. I couldn’t talk to Felix because of the pastor keeping me from him as punishment for not wearing girl clothes.”</p>
<p>Damian looked over sharply, and Jordan cursed in his mind. He hadn’t told anyone about the pastor actually knowing about Felix. He didn’t see the point. </p>
<p>Trying to force the conversation back on topic, Jordan asked, “Did he seem sincere or sorry?” </p>
<p>Damian kept looking at Jordan, but seemed to save the pastor conversation for another day. Jordan would make sure that future day never came.</p>
<p>“Yes, he seemed to be both. I believe him, but I don’t know what to do about it. I will need to think about it for a while longer. Thank you for listening.” </p>
<p>Jordan nodded and got out of the car. He thought it was weird that Damian and Luke always said that when they had a conversation about emotions. He knew that Luke wanted him to open up about his time with the pastor, but he didn’t want therapy over it. He might eventually talk to Damian about it, but only if Damian promised not to tell Luke. </p>
<p>He walked into the house and saw Hannah sitting on the couch, glaring. Jordan walked past her, not really wanting to get involved in her perpetual bad mood, but she apparently wanted to fight. She stuck her foot out to trip him, which Jordan barely avoided. Spinning around, he stared open-mouthed at her. This was the first time she had done something so aggressive to show her displeasure over him living there.</p>
<p>“What the fuck is your problem?” Jordan winced slightly, he hadn’t meant to let the curse word slip out; if Luke or Damian heard, it would be a week’s worth of extra chores. </p>
<p>“You are my problem! You just showed up, without warning, and stole my sister from me! Now you’re stealing my father!” Jordan hesitated. </p>
<p>That probably was how she saw it go down. He believed Luke and Damian would have had a conversation about why Jordan was placed here, but it was probably only hours before they went to pick him up. </p>
<p>“I’m not stealing your sister or father, I’m just staying here until Jason is approved to be my guardian,” Jordan tried to keep his voice level, but it was hard with her glaring at him. </p>
<p>“Why here? We didn’t want you!” </p>
<p>Jordan’s temper flared and he was about to yell at her too, but Luke rushed in and looked between the two of them. His jaw was ticking, and he seemed to be fighting his own temper. </p>
<p>“Why are you two fighting?”</p>
<p>“She tripped me, then started accusing me of stealing Damian and Kelsey!” </p>
<p>This was the moment of truth, would he side with his daughter or the foster kid they didn’t want? Luke breathed deeply and then turned to his daughter.</p>
<p>“Hannah, apologize.”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>Luke looked like he was at the end of his rope. Jordan didn’t know what he was going to do, but he didn’t want to be here for it. </p>
<p>“Whatever. She can do what she wants, but I’m going outside.”</p>
<p>Jordan didn’t wait for a response before going out to his birdfeeder. He watched the birds flying to and from it, and felt a wave of sadness wash over him. He and his mother used to identify the birds. They both loved birds. His mother knew the name of all the birds that came up to the feeder and would tell him facts about the birds. She would never tell him another fact about any kind of bird because of a stupid car crash, and he was stuck in a house that didn’t want him. He was only here because Luke was also trans.</p>
<p>His mom and dad wanted him, had loved him, and supported him during everything. They never even hesitated when he told them that he was a boy. They drove to the nearest bookstore to pick out some books on being transgender, searched the web for safe binding techinques, and then found a group for transgender pre-teens and teens to support each other. They even became the pseudo parents for any kid that didn’t have supportive parents. They had enough love to share, and he wanted to be like that when he grew up. </p>
<p>Jordan hadn’t even noticed the tears streaking down his cheeks until a small hand wiped them off. He looked over at Kelsey, who pulled her hand back and hugged her shark closer to her chest. He wiped the tears off his face and rubbed his eyes. He tried to smile at Kelsey, but he didn’t know how well he did. Kelsey gave him a small smile too, then looked at the bird feeder. </p>
<p>“Our dad broke into our apartment and killed our mom. He was mean and she ran away from him with us. We had an older brother, from dad but not mom. He didn’t want us, so we had to go into foster care. Daddy and Baba don’t know about him because we don’t like talking about him. I think that might be why she doesn’t like you that much.”</p>
<p>Jordan looked at the little girl and blinked. That made sense, and made Jordan even more thankful for his loving parents. If he went through all that, he probably wouldn’t like to have another sibling either. He still didn’t really like Hannah, but he would make an effort to be nicer to her. He hugged Kelsey, and told her facts about the birds flying in and out of the bird feeder.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Jason was freaking out about his clothes, which he didn’t do on an usual basis, thank you Felix. He blamed it on the restaurant that David and Luke had picked out for the “meet the rest of the family” dinner. He was not nervous about meeting David and their two girls, not a bit. Well, maybe he was a bit nervous.<p>Jason got the sense that Luke and his husband were a solid team. If one didn’t like him, then he could forget about ever inviting Jordan over for a weekend or meeting up multiple times a week. He didn’t think the couple would cut off the cousins completely, but they probably would tone it back to once a week. He ran his hand through his hair, and changed his shirt for the ninth time. His phone started buzzing, and he snachted it up, thankful for the distraction. </p>
<p>“Replacement, what do you want?” </p>
<p>“Hello, Jason. It’s so nice to hear from you too. I’m doing well. How are you?” Jason rolled his eyes at the sass. </p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah. What’s up?”</p>
<p>“I’m just checking that you haven’t forgotten about Conner’s birthday dinner tomorrow,” Jason silently cursed. </p>
<p>He had forgotten, but he hadn’t made plans for tomorrow. He also hadn’t made plans for someone to watch Felix, he cursed out loud for that realization. </p>
<p>“You forgot. Well, that’s why I called you,” Tim sounded off, and Jason didn’t think it was because he forgot about his husband’s birthday dinner. </p>
<p>“Hey, I’ll still be there; I have nothing going on.”</p>
<p>“That’s good.” </p>
<p>“What’s your deal?”</p>
<p>“I don’t have a deal. I just don’t like it when people forget about the plans they have made.”</p>
<p>“Bullshit,” Jason knew pissing off Tim was probably not the best way to figure the problem, but it was the only way Jason knew how to do it. </p>
<p>Tim let out a frustrated noise, then sighed. </p>
<p>Jason heard a door click shut, “I saw Damian today.” </p>
<p>That was not what he was expecting, “Why were you in California?”</p>
<p>“He moved away from California years ago.”</p>
<p>“How do you know that?”</p>
<p>There was a beat of silence, “I’ve secretly been keeping tabs on him.”</p>
<p>Jason narrowed his eyes. His brother was a tech wizard, and had apparently decided to use his powers for the creepy. </p>
<p>“That’s creepy. Don’t tell me that you’re keeping tabs on me.”</p>
<p>“Not anymore, and I know it’s creepy. That’s why I haven’t told anybody. He’s living in Gotham now, which I knew, but Conner ran into him at a cafe two weeks ago. I staked out the cafe until I saw him today.”</p>
<p>“You’re being a stalker, which is weird and creepy. Stop being a creeper.”</p>
<p>“I know, Jason! I just couldn’t help myself.”</p>
<p>“I think that’s what all stalkers say.”</p>
<p>A deep breath on the other end of the line, “He has a daughter close to Malachi’s age, named Kelsey. I gave him my phone number, but he hasn’t reached out to me.”</p>
<p>“This happened this morning?”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“Why do you think the demon brat would’ve called already? He’s already waited over a decade to talk to any of us as it is.”</p>
<p>“Jason you don’t know what happened. You weren’t here.”</p>
<p>“The kid got upset over Bruce calling his boyfriend a gold-digger and left. He was a spoiled brat who threw a tantrum over not getting what he wanted one time. What more is there to know?”</p>
<p>“That’s not even remotely true! Have you been thinking that all this time?”</p>
<p>Jason shrugged, but realized he was on the phone with Tim who wouldn’t be able to see the gesture. Tim plowed on anyways. </p>
<p>“Do you know who took him to get his driver’s license on his sixteenth birthday? I did, because Bruce forgot about Damian’s birthday while he was obsessing over Helena’s birthday party. Like Bruce had forgotten all of his birthdays, school events, and anything important to Damian. Then on his eighteenth birthday, Damian tells Bruce that he is moving to California with his boyfriend, and Bruce lays down an ultimatum. Your boyfriend or your family, because he wasn’t going to pay for a gold-digger to live in California when Damian had never even been to the state before. Damian left, and Bruce cut him off.” </p>
<p>Jason furrowed his brow. If that was the truth, which it probably was knowing Bruce, then that definitely explained why Damian’s departure had ripped the family apart. Dick, Tim, and Stephanie had all but completely stopped talking to Bruce, and Selina had divorced Bruce a couple of months later, taking Helena. Most of them had reconciled, but it was always tense in the Manor. One thing that didn’t add up though. </p>
<p>“Where was Alfie at during all of this?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know; I assumed Damian swore him to secrecy like he did me. I didn’t want to actually know, though.”</p>
<p>That made sense because Jason wasn’t sure he wanted to know Alfie’s story either, “Why did he swear you to secrecy?”</p>
<p>“To avoid making Dick feel guilty for forgetting his birthday, and other important events.”</p>
<p>“So he went ahead and made Dick feel even worse by leaving and cutting us all out.”</p>
<p>“He was eighteen, Jason. Think about you at eighteen, and tell me that you judge Damian harshly.”</p>
<p>Fair point; harsh, but fair point. </p>
<p>He grunted to convey that feeling, “You were only twenty-two, so why do you feel guilty about any supposed mistakes you’re beating yourself up over?”</p>
<p>There was an uncomfortable, long silence, and Jason checked to see if Tim had hung up. </p>
<p>“So you’ll be at our place tomorrow at six?” Jason cringed at the fake cheery tone. </p>
<p>“Yep, I’ll be there,” He just needed to figure out what to do with Felix in the meantime. </p>
<p>Jason checked his watch and bit back a curse. His phone call had made him late. He threw on the shirt he had just taken off, and thanked whatever deity was listening that he had dressed Felix before getting dressed himself. Felix was already waiting by the door, the kid was slightly obsessed with punctuality, and Jason quickly gave the boy a once over to look for mysterious stains. Felix smiled at him, and Jason’s heart melted. Maybe it was time for Felix to meet his family, but probably not by unexpectedly showing up at a family birthday dinner. </p>
<p>They made it to the restaurant, with a couple minutes to spare thanks to Jason’s driving, and saw Luke, Jordan, and a young girl. Jordan had already told Felix about his foster sister that was the same age to avoid any jealous outbursts, but Jason was going to keep an eye on his son to be sure. Walking over to the table, Jason sat Felix down beside Jordan and greeted Luke. </p>
<p>“Well everyone’s here now! This is Kelsey, and she’s very excited to meet you guys.” </p>
<p>Jason looked at the table, and realized that there weren't any extra place settings. He looked at Luke confused, and noticed the man seemed slightly stressed. Kelsey answered his unasked question. </p>
<p>“Hannah picked a fight with Jordan, so her and Baba are staying at home.” </p>
<p>Jason wondered if he should be concerned about it, but then thought about how many times he had fought with his siblings. Jordan shrugged, but didn’t look upset about it. Probably just a normal sibling fight, then. Jason realized the girl’s name was Kelsey, which was the name of Damian’s kid. Malachi would be around five, so six was close to that age. What if he had misheard the husband’s name? </p>
<p>“So, Kelsey, that’s a cool name. You share it with anyone you know?” </p>
<p>That was subtle, right?</p>
<p>“Yeah! There’s two other Kelsey’s in my class!” </p>
<p>He faked an extreme amount of shock, and she giggled. Alright, probably just a coincidence then, but maybe this kid knew Damian’s daughter. Jason put the issue out of his mind, and then had a great dinner. Kelsey was cool, and her and Felix seemed to hit it off. Maybe the answer to his problem was sitting right here. Deciding to ask, he quietly grabbed Luke to talk to him away from the kids. </p>
<p>“Hey, man, I know we don’t know each other that well, but I was hoping to ask for a favor. My brother-in-law is having a birthday thing tomorrow, that I might have forgotten about, and I haven’t introduced Felix to them yet. I didn’t want Felix to think I was trying to replace Jordan, so I wanted to wait until after they reconnected to introduce him to my family. However, I don’t think it would be a good idea to just spring Felix’s existence on them at a birthday bash. So could you possibly watch Felix tomorrow afternoon?”</p>
<p>There was no hesitation before Luke answered, “Yeah, absolutely. If you want to introduce Jordan to your family with Felix, then I think we can figure that out too.” </p>
<p>Jason nodded, that was a good idea and would help illustrate why he kept his son a secret for over four months. He hoped his family wouldn’t be that upset, but Tim would probably be pissed since their sons were close to the same age. Apparently Malachi was revolting over not having a cousin around his age to play with.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*Edit on 3/7 - Minor grammatical and style edits</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Monday, April 3rd</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>There is a bit of language in this chapter, sorry.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Damian stared at the card while Luke hurried around the kitchen. He had memorized the number written on the card, but had not called Timothy. Damian wondered how much of what Tim had told him was the truth. He doubted it was the truth. Timothy hated Damian when Damian first moved to Gotham, so why would he move to California for Damian? Damian hated that he could not stop wondering over the interaction with Timothy, and was thankful that he had not seen his brother since the cafe meeting two weeks ago. </p>
<p>Damian was jerked back into reality by Luke’s fierce swearing. Luke rushed over to the tap and started running water over his forearm, and Damian winced. They were supposed to be cooking breakfast together, but Damian had lost track of his assignments in the kitchen. He went over to the stove and started turning over the bacon, but Damian wasn’t sure if the bacon was done. It was Hannah’s birthday so they were having her favorite breakfast foods: bacon, pancakes, fruit, and pastries from the bakery down the road. The family didn’t eat meat often because of Damian being a vegetarian, so everyone’s favorite meals included meat. Damian was just thankful his family didn’t request meat more often. </p>
<p>“One would think that you would have that number memorized by now.”</p>
<p>“I do.”</p>
<p>Luke blew out a breath. He and Damian had discussed the number multiple times, but the issue fell to the wayside with everything else happening these last few weeks. Hannah and Jordan were only doing slightly better, they needed to prepare for Hannah’s birthday, Hannah had signed up for a class play with quite a bit of preparing needed and very little time, they had managed to find a soccer league for Kelsey which she thankfully was attending, the kid’s volunteering which Damian and Luke made them do, and Jordan had meetings with his cousin every three days. When you added Damian’s job, the occasional pet emergency, homework, and family time, Damian barely had time to catch his breath. </p>
<p>A flying drop of grease landed on Damian’s hand and he swore viciously in Arabic right as Jordan walked in. He surveyed the messy kitchen and it’s occupants before turning around and walking out. Luke started laughing and Damian rolled his eyes. Privately he thought Jordan had the right idea and he would be escaping the kitchen as soon as possible to avoid clean-up. </p>
<p>Jordan walked back in suddenly to say, “I smell something burning.” </p>
<p>Luke and Damian both sniffed the air. Luke rushed over to the oven. </p>
<p>“Damian did you turn the oven on?”</p>
<p>“Yes, the pastries are in there.”</p>
<p>Luke cursed again, this time more violently. He jerked open the oven and brought out the burnt pastries. Luke flipped over all of them revealing charred bottoms as well. </p>
<p>“The oven didn’t need to be on, Damian. They just needed to stay in there to keep some heat.” </p>
<p>“Oh.”</p>
<p>“These are ruined, so you need to go buy some more. Hopefully Mrs. Fischer has some more, and I’ll be able to finish breakfast in time.”</p>
<p>“I will be back soon.”</p>
<p>“I’ll go too.”</p>
<p>Damian looked over at Jordan surprised, but nodded his head. As soon as the two of them walked out of the house and driveway, it started lightly raining. Damian rolled his eyes. Of course it was going to rain on them too. Why wouldn’t it? Damian was looking at the sky darkly when he noticed Jordan’s posture out of the corner of his eye. Focusing on the teen, he wondered what was going on. </p>
<p>“How is school going, Jordan?”</p>
<p>He shrugged and hunched in on himself before saying, “It’s good, I guess.”</p>
<p>Damian nodded. Something was wrong, and he wondered if Jordan would trust him enough to talk about it. </p>
<p>“Good. Are you doing well in your classes?”</p>
<p>Jordan narrowed his eyes at Damian, and then sighed. </p>
<p>“Yeah, I’m doing alright. I don’t know what to do about one of my friends, though.”</p>
<p>“Oh? What is going on with them?”</p>
<p>They walked into the bakery, and got into line. Jordan was quiet for quite some time, and Damian assumed they weren’t going to talk about it. Damian thought it was a pity, but didn’t want to force the boy into talking. </p>
<p>“They keep making fun of my clothes and hobbies.”</p>
<p>“And you consider this person a friend?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. Well sort of. They’re more like a friend of my friend.”</p>
<p>“Have you asked them to stop making fun of your hobbies and clothes?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but they said I needed to relax because it was just a joke.”</p>
<p>Damian was thankful that it was his turn to order because he needed time to think about his response. He thought about the proper response the entire time Mrs. Fischer was boxing up their pastries, then he was distracted by how they were going to bring the pastries home with the rain. Finally he turned to Jordan. </p>
<p>“Jokes made at someone else’s expense are never good jokes. Usually these interactions come from a place of insecurity. So I would keep it in mind they are poking fun because they are insecure and wish to make you insecure also. I would inform your friend that you do not enjoy having your hobbies and clothes picked on and you do not view it as a joke.” </p>
<p>“People will think I’m lame and can’t take a joke.”</p>
<p>“People will always have something negative to think about a person, so it only matters how you think of yourself and who you are surrounding yourself with.”</p>
<p>“But I have to spend time around these people.”</p>
<p>“The only ones who will remember what happened after a week will be you and your friend. Sure your classmates might recall it occasionally, but just give them something better to recall about you.”</p>
<p>“Like what?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know. Maybe make a change for the better in your school? Just don’t do something that will land you in trouble. Are you ready to run home?”</p>
<p>Jordan looked outside and back at Damian before nodding. Damian and Jordan sprinted the entire way home, and the pastries thankfully barely got wet. Hannah and Kelsey were awake and in the kitchen, so Damian knew the conversation with Jordan would be over. Jordan did whisper a “Thanks” before bringing the pastries into the kitchen.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Damian barely walked into work on time that morning. The kids had taken forever to eat, then Jordan and Hannah fought over the bathroom, Kelsey had forgotten to do some of her homework over the weekend, and Luke had disappeared before cleaning the kitchen. While Damian was quickly cleaning the kitchen, Kelsey had started playing on her tablet instead of doing her homework and Hannah locked herself in her room when she didn’t win the argument with Jordan. Luke was nowhere to be found while Damian scolded both of the girls for their respective behaviour, but swooped in to dry Kelsey’s responding tears.<p>After that entire mess, the kids had managed to miraculously pile into the car only five minutes later than they should have. Then an unexpected car accident, not theirs thankfully, made Jordan ten minutes late for school and the girls twenty-five. Vice Principal Rosa talked to Damian for fifteen minutes again about the perpetual tardiness. Damian had heard the talk so many times he did not pay attention to the woman. While driving to his job, Damian swore that Luke would start being the one who took the kids to school. </p>
<p>He had a walk-in first thing and the rest of his day was booked solid. When he finally had a chance to sit down and check his phone, he saw he had a notification from Luke. Opening the text, he swore loudly enough to make the technicians glance at him. Luke was not going to be able to pick-up Felix after work now due to an appointment being added to his schedule after his usual hours. </p>
<p>The family were all going to see a movie that Hannah wanted to watch then have a nice dinner, and they were picking up Felix because Jason had a thing to do that night. Something about planning a birthday party, Damian thought. Damian suddenly realized that even though he had been corresponding with Jason for almost a month, he had never actually met the man. After the dinner where they were supposed to meet two weeks ago, Damian had been the one picking up one of the girls from their extracurriculars each time Jordan was meeting with Felix. </p>
<p>He had certainly heard a lot about the man from his husband and kids. Jordan and Kelsey thought he was hilarious. While Hannah thought he was “ok for an old guy” which Damian translated to mean that she agreed. Luke had never explicitly told Damian that he thought Jason was attractive, but Damian knew that his husband did find the man attractive. Apparently he had a “badass look” according to everyone. Jordan had also told him that Jason thought his name was “David” and didn’t bother to correct the man, so that would be awkward. </p>
<p>Damian texted Jason about the change in plans, luckily managed to catch him on an apparent break himself, and they quickly decided that Damian would pick up Felix before the other kids. Damian would barely have time to make it to Jason’s on time after work, but he needed to talk to Jason about the pastor. He had told Rachel about Jordan’s comment, and she was launching an investigation into the allegation. However, she had not been able to reach Jason about it last week because his voicemail was full and his phone had been off every time she called. </p>
<p>A few hours later, Damian quickly dressed into his street clothes, thankful to be out of his scrubs and soon going to see his family. He drove to the address Jason had given him, and wondered when the man was going to move out of Crime Alley. Damian was extremely lucky to find a spot close to Jason’s apartment, and hoped that his car wouldn’t attract too much attention. While he was walking up to the apartment he thought of the story about how his brother Jason came into the family. His idiot father left a fancy car in the middle of Crime Alley and Jason stole the tires off of it. Father had caught Jason as the boy greedily came back for the fourth tire, and decided to feed the boy instead of calling the cops. </p>
<p>Damian wondered why he was thinking about Jason. He had only met his brother a few times and they had not been close. Damian thought Jason might have hated him more than Timothy did. So when the door to Jason’s apartment opened, Damian was understandably surprised and thought his imagination was playing tricks on him. That was the most logical reaction to his brother Jason being the man standing on the other side of the door. He realized it was real when the man looked equally shocked and blurted out a nickname that Damian hoped he would never hear again. </p>
<p>“Demon brat?”</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Jason rushed into his apartment, and barely kept from swearing when he stubbed his toe. Then he congratulated himself for getting better at not swearing, especially in front of the kid. He snapped out of it, and started rushing again. David had texted him earlier, luckily they both had been on a break at the same time because they both kept their phones off while working. David said he needed to pick up Felix earlier. Jason knew that Hannah, Kelsey, and Jordan all had some after-school activities because of David’s work schedule, but apparently they didn’t have to stay after-school for too long as he barely had any time before the pick-up time David agreed on with him. Jason looked over at his kid who smiled at him, and stopped rushing around. David could wait, dammit, he had an after-school routine with Felix.<p>“What’s the word?”</p>
<p>“I made a really pretty picture! Wanna see?”</p>
<p>Of course Jason wanted to see, and it was going up on the fridge too. Jason looked over at said fridge and winced at the lack of space for the new picture. He didn’t want to take down any of the other pictures, but maybe it was time. </p>
<p>“Absolutely. Am I guessing or are ya gonna tell me?”</p>
<p>“Guess!”</p>
<p>Jason grinned. He didn’t think he had ever guessed what Felix had made correctly, so they made a game of him making the most ridiculous guesses until Felix told him what it was. He looked at the picture, and sure enough he had no idea what it was. All he could tell was that it was blue.</p>
<p>“Is it the aliens on Pluto?”</p>
<p>Felix laughed and shouted, “NO!”</p>
<p>“Dang. Is it a giraffe living in a submarine at the bottom of the sea?”</p>
<p>Felix laughed again while shaking his head. After four more guesses, Felix revealed it was two kids playing with a blue ball. Jason had handed him apple slices during the guessing game which Felix was happily munching on. Jason looked at his son’s outfit and wondered if he needed to change it for the dinner. </p>
<p>“Are you excited to watch the movie and have dinner with Jordan, Kelsey, Hannah, Luke, and David?” </p>
<p>Felix started cackling, and Jason was so glad he was meeting David today. He knew that he had the name wrong, that much was obvious from Jordan and Felix’s reaction to Jason talking about David, but they had not told him that he had the name wrong. So he definitely wasn’t going to let them in on the fact that he knew he didn’t actually know David’s name. Finally Felix stopped laughing, and nodded. </p>
<p>“Yeah! What did we get for Hannah’s birthday again?” </p>
<p>“You helped pick it out, and you forgot what it was?” Jason asked with fake incredulity.</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>Jason smiled at his kid, “We got her the unicorn tablet case.” </p>
<p>“Will she like it?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, you picked it out.”</p>
<p>Felix nodded, and was about to respond but David knocked on the door. Jason told Felix to eat his apple slices and went to the door. He checked the peephole and saw a tall man with black hair, and hoped it was David. He opened the door and nearly stepped back from shock. It was Damian, which made so much sense that Jason wondered how he hadn’t figured it out already. The kid looked at Jason like he was a ghost. </p>
<p>“Demon brat?”</p>
<p>Damian’s face morphed into the sneer that was the usual expression on his face when he was a kid, and Jason barely suppressed his grin at the expression. </p>
<p>“Todd,” he seethed. </p>
<p>Then Damian took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders. </p>
<p>“It’s nice to see you again, even if you apparently insist on using that abhorrent nickname.”</p>
<p>Jason rolled his eyes at the kid, who wasn’t a kid anymore. Damn when did that happen? Probably in the twelve years since he left Gotham. </p>
<p>“So you’re Jordan’s other foster parent?”</p>
<p>“Yes. And you are her uncle trying to become her foster parent?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. What are the odds?”</p>
<p>“Unbelievable really, especially when you factor in that the morning we were asked to take in Jordan was the morning I ran into Conner Kent.” </p>
<p>“It’s like Gotham wants you to reconnect with your family.”</p>
<p>Jason could not mistake the red-hot rage in Damian’s eyes and wanted to step back from his brother. Then it was smothered and Damian made his “tt” noise. Damian looked shocked and one corner of his mouth twitched. </p>
<p>“I have not done that in years. My ex hated the habit and constantly insulted it. Hmmm. Anyways, I will not be reconnecting with Father while I am here. I need to discuss something with you before picking up the other children.”</p>
<p>Jason couldn’t blame the kid on not wanting to reconnect with Bruce, but wanted to make a comment about reconnecting with Tim and Dick. Deciding it wasn’t his business, Jason let it drop. </p>
<p>“What’s up?”</p>
<p>“Rachel tried to call you but your voicemail box was full. The pastor Jordan was with before us did actually know about Felix, and kept Jordan away from him as punishment for not falling in line.”</p>
<p>Jason did swear at that, “Are you fucking kidding me? What a goddamn bastard!”</p>
<p>“Indeed. Rachel is launching an investigation because of this information, but will need you to aid her in the endeavor.”</p>
<p>Jason nodded, and looked back at Felix who was down to one apple slice. He wondered how this whole thing could affect his son, but whatever happened because of the investigation needed to happen. </p>
<p>“Felix are you ready? Damian is here to take you to have fun with him and the brood.”</p>
<p>“Yeah!” He hopped off the stool and ran towards the bedroom, shouting back, “Let me grab the present!” </p>
<p>Damian blinked. </p>
<p>“You did not need to buy a gift for Hannah.”</p>
<p>“Of course I did, it’s her birthday and now I know that she’s my niece.” </p>
<p>Damian rolled his eyes and greeted Felix when he came back with the gift. They left and Jason sat down on his couch heavily. He didn’t want to go deal with his siblings after that roller coaster of emotions, but they needed to hammer out the last few details for Alfred’s birthday party on Saturday. So he got up and grabbed his keys. He would go to Tim’s place early to drink and sober up before he needed to drive home. </p>
<p>After fighting through the miserable traffic, Jason was more than ready for a drink. That plan was put on hold, though, by Malachi answering the door with a happy yell. </p>
<p>“Did you bring Felix?”</p>
<p>Of course the kid only liked him for his kid, Jason thought sourly when Malachi pouted at Jason’s negative answer. Jason had introduced the boys to each other about a week ago, and Tim had been predictably pissed over Jason hiding his kid from the family. Everyone else was more understanding, though, so that was something. Jason walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge. </p>
<p>“Sure, help yourself to my fridge without saying a word to me, Jason. It’s not like I’m right here preparing dinner or anything.”</p>
<p>Jason rolled his eyes and looked at Tim. The kid looked exhausted, probably worrying himself half to death over something. Jason wondered if Damian had reached out to Tim, then decided Damian probably hadn’t. Taking a sip of his beer, he contemplated telling Tim about the last hour or so. </p>
<p>“You know Jordan’s other foster parent? The one I kept calling David.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, why?”</p>
<p>“It’s Damian. Just found out when he came over to pick up Felix for his daughter’s birthday thing.”</p>
<p>Tim stopped cutting whatever vegetable he was chopping, and looked at Jason. </p>
<p>“Really? That’s a major coincidence.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, no kidding. Anyways, he told me that he wasn’t going to be reconnecting with Bruce when I mentioned something about it. So I wouldn’t hold my breath about him calling you, but I wouldn’t completely count it as a no.”</p>
<p>Tim nodded and looked thoughtful before saying, “Should we tell Dick now?”</p>
<p>They had decided not to tell Dick about it initially, but Jason thought Dick would be pretty pissed about this connection not being mentioned. </p>
<p>“Yeah, probably. I vote you do it.”</p>
<p>“You’re the one with the actual connection to Damian.” </p>
<p>“Which Damian?”</p>
<p>Jason winced at Steph’s loud voice, “Keep it down will ya? Demon spawn Damian. He’s back in Gotham, and somehow my kid’s cousin is his foster kid.”</p>
<p>Stephanie’s eyes grew round and her mouth fell open in shock. </p>
<p>“Holy shit! What?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s a major coincidence, but maybe don’t let Dick know yet.”</p>
<p>“Don’t let Dick know what?”</p>
<p>Jason swore as Dick walked into the kitchen, which had Tim hissing something about watching his language because of the kids. This was a fucking mess, and he did not want Dick to find out like this. Better to rip it off like a bandaid though. </p>
<p>“Damian is back in Gotham. His foster kid is Felix’s cousin, so I’ve been in contact with him for a month. I just found out it was Damian an hour ago, though. Tim was the one who staked out the cafe he goes to and ambushed him a couple weeks ago. ”</p>
<p>Jason added the last part because Dick was looking more and more upset. Better to throw Tim under the bus because Dick could stay mad at Jason a whole lot longer. So he just shrugged at Tim’s hissed “Jason”. Dick opened his mouth and shut it a few times. Then he walked out of the kitchen. </p>
<p>After a silent but furious debate with Tim and Steph, Jason was declared the one to go talk to Dick. He found the man on the roof after a search of the entire apartment with no luck. He sat down next to Dick and looked out at Gotham. Finally Dick spoke up. </p>
<p>“So I guess he doesn’t want anything to do with us then?”</p>
<p>Jason blinked and thought about it, “I don’t know if that’s true. He definitely doesn’t want anything to do with Bruce, but you might have a chance.”</p>
<p>“Why hasn’t he reached out to me then?”</p>
<p>“Probably because it’s been twelve years.”</p>
<p>“Does he look happy?”</p>
<p>“Probably would look a whole lot happier if he had you to talk to again. You were always his favorite.”</p>
<p>Jason vowed to himself that he was going to get Damian to talk to Dick. He didn’t care if it wasn’t his problem, or if Damian wanted to or not. Dick deserved to have Damian back in his life. Dick should never look this miserable. He was too good of a person.</p>
<p>“I’ll invite him to the party since Bruce won’t be there.”</p>
<p>Dick looked surprised, and then smiled at Jason. </p>
<p>“I always knew you had a soft spot for family, Jason.”</p>
<p>Jason dodged the incoming hug and said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Dickface.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>On the note of Bruce not going to Alfred's birthday party. I picture it as him not going because he wants Jason to go, knowing that Jason has a special bond with Alfred, but I don't put that in the story so take what you will from my perspective.</p>
<p>*Edit on 3/7 - Minor grammatical and style changes. Please let me know if I missed any errors.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Saturday, April 8th</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Alfred's birthday party</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for the late upload. I won't go into details, but life has been hectic lately.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Baba, are you excited?”</p>
<p>“About what Kelsey?” </p>
<p>“Going to the birthday party. I’m so excited because Felix told me that there would be another kid our age there, and a kid around Hannah’s age. Felix also said that there might be someone around Jordan's age there too. It’s so cool!”</p>
<p>“Yes, it is very exciting. Can you go see if Jordan and Hannah are ready?”</p>
<p>Damian waited until Kelsey was gone before swearing in both Arabic and English. How had Jason talked him into going to this party? He was not excited to see all of these people again. They did not even like him, and Damian desperately wished the feeling was mutual. It was not though. He had liked all of his siblings, and Brown, even though he had acted like he was better than them. He swallowed as he thought of seeing Richard again. What if Richard hated him? He did not think he could handle it if Richard hated him. </p>
<p>He felt his stomach pitch at the thought of Alfred. When Damian had come to Gotham, Alfred had been the one to keep the peace while Damian pushed all of Father’s buttons, before they started to come to a truce. Then Father went missing for nearly a year, and that deeply troubled Timothy. While Father was missing, Jason came back to Gotham with a serious drug problem. Soon Alfred was juggling Jason’s problems with Timothy’s rapidly deteriorating mental health. Not even a few months after Father had been found, Richard had his car accident. Alfred was providing constant care to Richard while guiding Jason and Timothy since Father was primarily condemning Jason for the drug problem. Alfred was also helping Cassandra adjust to her new life, and the trauma she lived through. Finally, Helena was born. While Kyle did take care of her child, she also had a full-time job that kept her extremely busy, so Alfred was the one taking care of Helena for the majority of the time. </p>
<p>Damian knew how busy his job and three children kept him, so he could not begin to fathom how Alfred did it. In addition, Alfred had always cooked something vegetarian for Damian, took him to school and his afterschool activities, and provided a stable guardian figure which was more than Father ever did. Damian had partially blamed Alfred for not noticing the neglect, but Alfred was only one man. Compared to his sibling’s problems, how could Damian have been the main priority? Damian had forgiven the man for not noticing a long time ago, so that was not why he was nervous about seeing the man again. </p>
<p>When he left the Manor on his eighteenth birthday, he had said some very hateful things to Alfred. Damian wished with his entire being to take back those harsh words, but they had already been uttered into existence. The best he could do was apologize, which was the main reason that he had let Jason talk him into going to Alfred’s birthday party. He would apologize, stay for a little bit, and leave. Then his family would never need to worry about or see him again. </p>
<p>Damian wished the thought did not make him so sad, but he could not change his feelings on the subject. He walked out of the room to check on his family to see if they were ready to leave, and ran into Luke. Luke grabbed his arm and squeezed while offering Damian a reassuring smile. Damian nodded and started to walk away, but Luke did not let go. </p>
<p>“Hey, why are we doing this if it’s upsetting you so much?”</p>
<p>Damian sighed, “I need to apologize to Alfred.”</p>
<p>“Why? It seems to me like he was instrumental in aiding to the neglect you suffered through by your father.”</p>
<p>Damian and Luke had disagreed about this point multiple times over the last week, so Damian took a deep breath before saying, “My problems were minor compared to the rest of my siblings, so he did not realize what was happening. I said something unforgivable to him while I was leaving, and I need to apologize for it.”</p>
<p>“Why won’t you tell me what you said?”</p>
<p>Damian had never wanted to repeat the statement, even to Luke, but if Luke knew, then he might understand. Damian had been very young, hurt, and lashed out. Maybe Luke would not decide he was an unredeemable person if he heard what Damian had said. The risk was not worth taking in Damian’s mind. He did not think he could bear to have Luke look at him differently. </p>
<p>“Hey. You know that whatever you said, I won’t judge you for it, right?”</p>
<p>Damian hated that Luke knew him so well, so he cleared his throat and trusted him, “I told Alfred that I hated him, and my life would have been better if I never had met him.”</p>
<p>Luke was staring at Damian with an incredulous look on his face, and Damian started panicking. He knew that he should have never mentioned it. Now his relationship would forever change. </p>
<p>“That’s it? Damian every teenager says something similar to their guardian. Hell, Hannah will probably tell one of us that in just a few years. Will you not forgive her when that happens?”</p>
<p>“Of course not,” Damian said, shocked that Luke thought he would not forgive her.</p>
<p>“Right. Alfred has probably already forgiven you.”</p>
<p>Damian nodded slowly, but he could not shake the feeling that what he said was different somehow.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
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</div>Damian smiled down at Kelsey who was chatting excitedly. He looked at the door and briefly considered turning around, but he had never been a coward. He squared his shoulders and opened the door. His family walked into the virtually empty party. Afraid that he had the time wrong, he pulled out his phone to check the text from Jason. They were on time according to the text, so he wondered where everyone was.<p>Felix came running to them, smiling widely. Damian looked to the direction he had come from and saw Jason. There was also an older man, Alfred, and a man with shoulder length black hair. Damian wondered if it was Richard, and decided he would not attempt to find out by walking up to the group to greet Jason. He found the table with the presents and placed down the present he brought beside one that looked like it was wrapped by a child. He stood next to Luke and watched the children. </p>
<p>Kelsey was playing with Felix, Hannah was on her phone standing next to a girl that seemed to be around her age who was also on her phone, and Jordan was standing by himself in the corner. Luke saw Jordan and went to go talk to the teen, leaving Damian alone. He put his hands in his pockets and looked to the corner of the room. He felt a hand on his shoulder suddenly, and jerked his head to see it was Jason. </p>
<p>“Demon brat. Loosen up, it’s a party.”</p>
<p>“Where is everyone else?”</p>
<p>“Tim’s stuck in traffic, Cass and Steph won’t be here for another hour or so, and Helena had some practice today so she won’t be here for a few hours.” </p>
<p>“So that’s Richard?”</p>
<p>“Yep. He’s talking to Alfie. They haven’t noticed you yet, believe it or not.”</p>
<p>“Hmmm,” Damian highly doubted that was true. </p>
<p>“They’re expecting you to say hi. It’s been a while.”</p>
<p>Damian rolled his eyes at Todd’s attitude, but nodded and started walking over towards the duo. During the trip across the room, he thought for the twentieth time that it was a mistake to be here. He stopped next to Richard, and cleared his throat to help with the nerves. Then he briefly cursed himself, sure that he sounded like the same stuck-up child he had been. Richard looked over and smiled brightly, but it held a touch of an unreadable expression. </p>
<p>“Dami! It’s so good to see you!”</p>
<p>Damian was unsure if he was lying. </p>
<p>“Master Damian. It is indeed good to see you.”</p>
<p>Damian was positive that Alfred was lying. </p>
<p>“Richard, Alfred. It is good to see you both as well.”</p>
<p>The pause that followed was nearly too awkward to live through, in Damian’s mind. Richard looked away first, and Damian followed suit. It felt like hours had passed before anyone said another word. Finally Richard broke the silence. </p>
<p>“Dami have you met my daughter, Mari?”</p>
<p>“No, I have not.”</p>
<p>“She’s over there next to the other teenager.”</p>
<p>“That’s my daughter, Hannah. My youngest, Kelsey, is playing with Felix, and my foster son, Jordan, is over there in the corner talking to my husband, Luke.”</p>
<p>Damian pointed to them as he said their names, and Richard looked over. </p>
<p>“That’s great, Dami. You have such a beautiful family.”</p>
<p>“Thank you, Richard.” </p>
<p>They lapsed back into the uneasy silence. </p>
<p>“Master Richard, I believe I will accept your offer after all. Will you bring me a drink, please?”</p>
<p>“Of course, Alfie. I’ll be right back.”</p>
<p>Damian seized his opportunity to apologize, “I am sorry for my declaration when I was eighteen, Alfred. I was upset and took it out on you.”</p>
<p>Alfred looked disturbed, “Master Damian, you are not the one who should be apologizing. I was the one who did not see your situation clearly, and I have deeply regretted that since your eighteenth birthday. I hoped that you would eventually come home so I could apologize.” </p>
<p>That was not what Damian had expected Alfred to say, “You were incredibly busy with everyone else’s misfortunes, and I understood that after a bit of time away. You do not need to apologize -”</p>
<p>“I will finish what I need to say. It was unfair of me to expend all of my efforts aiding your siblings with their problems, and you should not have suffered due to my blindness towards what you were going through. I apologize for not realizing your birthdays were being uncelebrated after some time while your sister received lavish parties, for not realizing that you were being entirely ignored and forgotten by Master Bruce, and especially for neglecting your emotions while helping the rest of your siblings with their various situations. It truly was never my intention. I hope you will find it within yourself to forgive me.”</p>
<p>“Of course, Alfred. I forgave you a long time ago, although I do not believe there was anything to forgive. I hope you forgive me for my completely misguided statement to you, and I do realize how false it was.”</p>
<p>“Of course. You should have realized that it never would be necessary for you to apologize for that.”</p>
<p>Damian felt like a weight had been lifted off of his chest, and he smiled at Alfred. </p>
<p>“Truly, I wish you a happy birthday. I should ensure my daughter puts her phone away long enough to actually converse with a human being,” Damian said with narrowed eyes in the direction of his oldest daughter.</p>
<p>“I am truly happy that you have a family that you love so deeply, and I hope you will allow me to become acquainted with them.”</p>
<p>“We have a weekly family dinner on Thursdays at seven. I would love for you to attend as well. I can write down my address.”</p>
<p>Alfred smiled slightly and nodded his head, so Damian wrote down his address. Damian walked over to the corner where his daughter was with Mari. He was not lying, he hoped that Alfred did come to some of the dinners.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Jason was deeply troubled by what he had overheard. He had not meant to listen, but he wanted to confront Damian for not talking to Dick. He remembered what Tim had told him about Damian’s childhood, but he had not believed it was really that bad. He knew that Bruce could forget to throw his kid a birthday party and forget about an event or two, but Jason had always believed that Alfiie would be there to remember. Jason rationalized that Alfie had always remembered his appointments, important or not.<p>According to Alfie himself, Damian couldn’t say the same about his childhood. Jason wondered if that had really affected his youngest brother, and then decided it must have for the kid to go without speaking to any of them for twelve years. Jason hated that he felt bad for Damian. Damian was the spoiled demon brat who hated all of them. What did it matter if nobody paid attention to him in that big ass mansion? </p>
<p>Maybe Jason did slightly understand Tim’s guilt now, though. He also was starting to understand why everyone completely turned their back on Bruce. Jesus, it was so much simpler before the kid came back.</p>
<p>Jason had been lost in his thoughts for quite some time when Cass and Stephanie walked in with their baby. Felix and Kelsey ran over to the baby which made Jason chuckle. He walked over at a calmer pace to greet them. </p>
<p>“Is that Damian?”</p>
<p>Jason looked to where Stephanie was staring, “Yeah. I invited him.”</p>
<p>“And he came? That’s cool.</p>
<p>Felix and Kelsey interrupted before he had a chance to answer Steph.</p>
<p>“Can I hold your baby? I’ve never held one before, but I really want to!”</p>
<p>“I do too!” </p>
<p>Cass looked down at the two kids and nodded, “Only sitting and with an adult.”</p>
<p>Both of the kids cheered and ran to a seat. Cass followed with May. Jason turned to Stephanie, and blew out a breath. She was cool, so he could talk to her about what was going through his mind. </p>
<p>“I heard Alfie talking to Damian, and it’s a different situation than I thought it was.” </p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>“Alfie was apparently so focused on all of our problems that he didn’t pay attention to Damian while he was growing up. I knew Bruce neglected him, but I didn’t know that Alfie wasn’t paying attention either. I also thought that Tim was exaggerating the whole thing, but it seems like Tim didn’t know the full extent.” </p>
<p>“Damn. How did Damian react to the conversation?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He wanted to apologize about something he said while leaving, but Alfie wasn’t having it. Alfie felt like he needed to apologize, but Damian had already figured out what happened and forgave him.” </p>
<p>“So you feel guilty for thinking that Damian was the bad guy this entire time?”</p>
<p>“Yeah a little bit, but what was I supposed to think?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t know. Maybe you should’ve asked someone who was actually here what happened, though.”</p>
<p>Jason glared at her. Why had he thought she would help? She shrugged and walked away towards her wife and kid. Jason wanted to brood longer, but Dick was walking towards him with remorse on his face. </p>
<p>“What’s up?”</p>
<p>“Dami hates me.”</p>
<p>Jason wanted to roll his eyes, “Why do you think that?”</p>
<p>“It was so awkward talking to him.”</p>
<p>“It’s been twelve years, what did you expect? To automatically be best friends again?”</p>
<p>“Something other than a ‘it’s so good to see you’ and ‘oh, that’s my family’ from both of us. I just have so many questions. I want to be his brother again.” </p>
<p>“Work on it with him. It won’t just happen overnight.”</p>
<p>Dick looked at him thoughtfully, “When did you become the rational one?”</p>
<p>“When I had to start raising my kid.”</p>
<p>“Excuse me.” </p>
<p>Jason nearly jumped, but refrained from showing his surprise. He turned around to see Damian.</p>
<p>“What?” Jason said, viciously from the kid sneaking up on him. </p>
<p>“Your lack of manners continues to surprise me, Todd. Jordan is not feeling well, so we are leaving. Thank you for inviting us, Jason. Richard,” he hesitated, “it was good to see you again.”</p>
<p>Jason waved him off, and Dick shot him a fake smile with a “You too!” Damian walked out of the door with his family.</p>
<p>“See what I mean?”</p>
<p>“What? It just looked like you both didn’t know what to do. I’ll give you his number so you can talk to him.”</p>
<p>“No! He needs to be the one who gives me his number if he really wants me to have it.”</p>
<p>“Whatever. I’m done getting involved in your drama.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I really wanted Damian and Dick's reunion to be super emotional, but I didn't feel like that made sense. They were super close and important to each other, and then didn't talk for twelve years. So I felt like that would make the intial reunion be pretty awkward. Thanks for reading!</p>
<p>*Minor grammatical and style edits on 3/7. Please let me know if I missed any changes.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Monday, April 24th</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A doctor's appointment brings up feelings, then Jordan meets Jon.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for all the comments, kudos, and love; I promise I will respond to the comments, but it's still been a bit hectic. </p>
<p>I don't know if I captured the essence of Jon, as I'm not as familiar with him. I tried to make this a fluffy chapter, but I don't know if I'm really happy with it. </p>
<p>As always, thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jordan twitched in his seat as the next song came on the radio. It was an annoying pop song that both Felix and Kelsey loved, so he had heard the song on repeat over 1,000 times in the last few weeks. Then he thought back to living with the pastor where they only listened to Gospel or sermons, and he was not allowed to see Felix. Suddenly the annoying pop song was not so bad in Jordan’s opinion.  </p>
<p>Damian had noticed the twitch, though, and chuckled. Damian’s chuckle was a rare occurrence, and Jordan was always very pleased when he drew it out of his foster father. Damian switched on his blinker to turn left, and then glanced over after he parked the car.</p>
<p>“I despise this song, as well. I have lived with Kelsey longer, though, so I have hated it longer than you. I catch myself recalling the lyrics all of the time.” </p>
<p>Damian shuddered in an exaggerated way, and Jordan laughed. Every time Damian joked around like this, Jordan loved it. Damian only joked around with Luke and the kids, so him including Jordan made the teen feel warm and fuzzy inside. Jordan barely stopped himself from wrinkling his nose at the thought because he did not do warm and fuzzy. </p>
<p>“Felix loves it too, so I guarantee I’ve listened to it a lot more than you have.” </p>
<p>Damian arched his eyebrow, and then scoffed. His face lost it’s joking expression and he studied Jordan’s face. Jordan was afraid his earlier displeasure at his own thoughts were showing on his face and Damian had thought it was about the joke. </p>
<p>“Are you ready for this?”</p>
<p>Oh, that’s why he was studying Jordan’s face. Jordan looked up at the building he had been in so many times with his parents and swallowed hard. His throat was suddenly dry, his heart started beating rapidly, and his chest felt unbearably tight. He didn’t know how this meeting was going to go, honestly, and he was terrified. There were risks to taking the puberty stoppers, and what if there was no hope for him now that he had been without the stoppers for five months. He started to answer Damian, hoping to hide his true feelings, but all that came out was a strangled squeak. His breath started coming out in gasps.</p>
<p>Damian’s hand started to grab his shoulder, but then stopped. It was hovering awkwardly between them. Jordan looked away while trying to control his breathing. Jordan didn’t understand why he was reacting this way, and he hated that Damian was witnessing it. Suddenly, he felt Damian reach over and gently pull the teen to face him. </p>
<p>“We need to control your breathing, Jordan. Please breathe with me. In and out. That’s it, you’re doing very good. In and out.”</p>
<p>Damian led him through breathing exercises for a while with praises mixed in before Jordan could finally breathe normally again. He felt his cheeks burn even more intensely as Damian watched him. Damian slowly reached his hand to brush Jordan’s hair back, and it was so painfully similar to what his mother used to do, that his throat started burning from emotion. He would do anything to have her here again for even a minute, so that he could apologize for all the times he pushed her away because he was “too old”. </p>
<p>“Are you alright?”</p>
<p>Jordan didn’t know what he was, but alright wasn’t on the list. </p>
<p>It was probably the exhaustion he suddenly felt from the last fifteen minutes, but he blurted out, “My mom used to do that when I was sad. The hair thing,” he clarified when Damian looked puzzled. </p>
<p>Damian nodded slowly, “I am sorry. I will not do it again.”</p>
<p>“No, it’s fine. It was nice,” Jordan’s cheeks burned even hotter. “I was just thinking about how much I regret ever telling her to stop doing it because I was too grown up. Now I wish she could do it just one more time,” Jordan whispered. </p>
<p>Jordan didn’t know why he was telling this to Damian. Damian probably didn’t care. He had his own kids to worry about, and a really shitty family that was popping up in his life again. Even if Damian did care at the moment, they would probably never speak again once Jason was able to foster him. Jordan was surprised to realize that the thought made him sad. </p>
<p>“That’s a very hard lesson to learn, and most likely it is even harder to learn it at such a young age. I am very sorry for your loss.” </p>
<p>Jordan appreciated it, “I don’t know what caused the first thing, though.”</p>
<p>Damian accepted the subject change without missing a beat, “I believe it was a panic attack, and any person would feel anxious under the circumstances. You like this doctor, though, correct?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, Dr. Lopez has been helping me since I first told my parents I was transgender. I guess I am just nervous about what they will say since it’s been a few months without my pills.” </p>
<p>He wished that he would have told Damian and Luke about the pills earlier, but he had still been unsure of their reactions. What if they told him the pills were too expensive, or even worse, that he was too young to know? He felt silly for thinking those things now, though. Damian and Luke had never once shown any sign of reacting like that. Jordan guessed that the pastor had messed him up more than he originally thought. </p>
<p>Jordan took a deep breath and pushed open the car door. He walked into the building, and went to the elevator. He and Damian rode the elevator in silence, and when they stepped off, Jordan’s lingering anxiety vanished at the sight of the familiar waiting room. He grinned at the receptionist, Gabe, and Gabe grinned back. </p>
<p>“Jordan, it’s wonderful to see you again. Dr. Lopez is excited to see you also.”</p>
<p>He repeated the sentiment to Gabe before going to sit beside Damian. Jordan looked over at Damian who was filling out the clipboard with his new insurance information. Jordan suddenly realized that his new health insurance, through the state, might not cover this expense. What if he was completely burdening Damian and Luke? Jordan felt a little nauseous about that, but he didn’t have time to dwell on the thought before being called back into Dr. Lopez’s examination room. </p>
<p>He looked around the familiar room, and then sat on the bed. Dr. Lopez had been seeing him since he was eleven, when he first started the puberty blockers. They had told him that medicine for transgender individuals had advanced greatly since they were a kid, but still had quite a bit of room to evolve. Before his parents died, Jordan had hoped to go into the medicine field to help make the life of future transgender children easier like Dr. Lopez, but now he knew that there was no way he would be able to afford that many years of college. It was sad, but he was sure there was another way to help the future generation. </p>
<p>The door opened, and Dr. Lopez walked in. They had their usual bright grin plastered on their face, but it didn’t seem to reach their eyes. They walked across the room and opened their arms. Jordan hopped off the bed and accepted the hug. He didn’t realize how much he had missed them. They pulled back and looked into his eyes. </p>
<p>“So much sadness in the eyes of someone so young. Your foster father explained what had happened in some detail, but not everything. Tell me what you’re comfortable with talking about.”</p>
<p>Jordan sat on the bed again and did. Dr. Lopez barely reacted throughout the entire story. When he finished, the doctor stood up and went to the sink. They took longer than normal to wash their hands and then turned back to him. </p>
<p>“Are you speaking to anyone about what happened?”</p>
<p>Jordan narrowed his eyes. What was with every adult thinking he needed therapy? Something happened, it sucked, and now it was over. He shook his head, and Dr. Lopez sighed. </p>
<p>“I only ask because I am worried. You should consider speaking to someone, Jordan. What happened to you was undeniably traumatic. But,” they held up their hand when Jordan went to argue, “I will not bring it up again. I will need to give you a physical, and draw your blood. I will need to see the results before recommending future treatment. Are you ready?” </p>
<p>Jordan nodded, and started answering all of Dr. Lopez’s questions about his health.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Jordan walked out of the examination room with Dr. Lopez and saw Damian on his phone with his eyebrows furrowed. Damian was looking at his phone so intensely that Jordan wondered what was going on. He looked over Damian’s shoulder to see what was on the screen, and could not stop the snort that escaped him when he saw Damian was playing a game. Damian looked back at him with an arched eyebrow, and rolled his eyes when Jordan started laughing. Dr. Lopez walked over and greeted Damian.<p>“Hello Mr. Miller-Wayne. I am Dr. Lopez. I have already told Jordan this, but we will need to wait for his bloodwork to come back before discussing any future treatment plans. I know that he is probably busy with school during the week, so we can discuss the possibility of an appointment on Saturday. That should be enough time to receive the results of the blood work.”</p>
<p>“Jordan meets with his cousin around three on Saturdays, but anytime before that should work.” </p>
<p>Damian looked at him for agreement, and he nodded. </p>
<p>“Wonderful. Shall we plan for Saturday at nine, then?”</p>
<p>Jordan winced, that was really early for a Saturday. Damian agreed, and they said their goodbyes to Dr. Lopez. The duo walked back to Gabe’s desk. Damian paid the copay, and Jordan made a note to ask what a copay was when they left. Before he got the chance to ask, though, Damian turned to him. </p>
<p>“What does the rest of your school schedule look like for today?”</p>
<p>“Umm, it’s like after one, so Gym, Computer, and Geography.”</p>
<p>“Why are there still computer skill classes? Your entire generation grew up with computers. How are you doing in Geography?”</p>
<p>“Pretty good, I guess.” </p>
<p>He was making an A, but he didn’t want to brag.</p>
<p>“Well, would you like to spend the rest of the day with me? My friend Jon and I are planning on ‘hanging out’ this afternoon.”</p>
<p>Jordan was shocked, “That would be cool, I guess. Anything’s better than school,” he loved school, so that wasn’t necessarily true. </p>
<p>“Excellent. Jon is…” Damian trailed off and looked out towards the street, “interesting. He is wonderful and kind, but sometimes over excitable.”</p>
<p>“Like Kelsey?” Jordan asked, amused.</p>
<p>Damian looked at him and nodded, “Kelsey will mostly grow out of it, I believe. Jon will never grow up. He is my oldest friend regardless, and I do not know what my life would be like without him.” </p>
<p>Damian took out his cellphone and put it to his ear. After a brief conversation, they got back into the car and Damian drove to a nearby parking garage. They walked down to the street and a man, somehow more muscular and taller than Damian, crashed into him. Jordan was surprised that Damian didn’t fall over.</p>
<p>“Get off, idiot! You act like a damn Golden Retriever.”</p>
<p>“Dami! It’s so good to see you; it’s been forever!”</p>
<p>“You saw me on my birthday, so it has not even been four months.” </p>
<p>The man started pouting, which was a strange look on somebody so big, “That’s a long time to not see your best friend. Hi, I’m Jon, Damian’s bestie since we were ten!”</p>
<p>Damian scoffed, “That’s hardly true.”</p>
<p>“I’m definitely your bestie since I’m the only one who has always been able to deal with your grumpy ass. I’m still surprised that you managed to find another person that can deal with you,” Jon snickered at the end of his statement and Damian shoved him. </p>
<p>“I’m just kidding, Damian. You are amazing, and deserve all the love!” </p>
<p>Jon reached over and tried to drag Damian into a hug. Damian shoved him away again, and looked exasperated. Jordan was very interested in Damian’s best friend because Jon is not what he pictured for Damian’s best friend. Damian was usually so serious, and this man had not stopped joking around. Jordan was pretty amused by Jon’s antics. </p>
<p>“I’m Jordan.”</p>
<p>Jon reached out his hand to shake Jordan’s. It was surprisingly more gentle than Jordan expected from such an energetic and muscular man. </p>
<p>“Nice to meet you, Jordan! Damian’s told me about you, but I’m sure the reverse isn’t true. Damian likes to pretend that he doesn’t know me.”</p>
<p>“Stop it, Jon. You know that’s not true. What did you have planned to do today?”</p>
<p>“Let’s go watch a movie! I don’t know what’s out, though.”</p>
<p>Damian shrugged and started walking off in the direction of the mall. Jordan and Jon followed. </p>
<p>“So, what’s your life like, Jordan?”</p>
<p>“Ummm, well I’m Damian and Luke’s foster kid until Jason’s application is approved.”</p>
<p>“I know all of that. I meant what’s your hobbies and favorite school subject? Stuff like that.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, I like birds I guess. I spend a lot of time watching them.”</p>
<p>“That’s cool. I always wanted to fly like a bird, but I also think super-strength and invulnerability would be cool too. Then there’s super speed, and x-ray vision.”</p>
<p>“So you want every superpower?”</p>
<p>Jon looked thoughtful, “Nah. I wouldn’t want to read minds.”</p>
<p>Jordan nodded, “I would want to be able to manipulate time.”</p>
<p>“Oooh, time manipulation would be cool, but I would screw something up if I could do that.” </p>
<p>Jordan would go back and stop his parents from leaving that night. That was too heavy to dump on a stranger, though, so Jordan just looked down at the sidewalk. Sensing something off, Jon looked at him for a few seconds before telling Damian to slow down. They started talking about Jon’s job as a firefighter, and Jordan tuned out of the conversation. </p>
<p>“Sweet! They’re playing old movies, so you can catch up on the ones you missed, Dami.”</p>
<p>Damian hummed while looking at the movie selection, “They are showing one of the Star Wars. Luke is always horrified that I have never seen them.”</p>
<p>Jon walked up, “Oooh, it’s the Empire Strikes Back. We have to watch it! Are you game Jordan?”</p>
<p>“Sure, my dad and I used to watch Star Wars all the time when I was growing up. This one is probably my favorite.”</p>
<p>“Yes! We’re finally getting Damian to correct his past mistakes. It doesn’t start for another thirty minutes, so what should we do until then?”</p>
<p>“We passed an arcade,” Jordan really hoped they wanted to go to it as he loved the arcade.</p>
<p>Jon looked at Jordan with bright eyes, “Yes! Damian give your kid some quarters.” </p>
<p>Damian rolled his eyes as he pulled bills out of his wallet, “I was already doing that, Kent. Find your own money, though.”</p>
<p>“Ah, if this is how you treat your friends, I would hate to see how you treat your enemies,” Jon snickered again when Damian narrowed his eyes. </p>
<p>“I will be there in a moment.” </p>
<p>“OK. See ya! Let’s go to the arcade, Jordan.” </p>
<p>Jordan wondered what Damian was doing, but was too excited by the arcade to wait. Damian was going to join them in just a minute anyways.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Damian watched Jon and Jordan walk off in the direction of the arcade and took a deep breath. Maybe Jon was right and it was time for Damian to correct his past mistakes. He pulled out his phone and typed in a number he memorized over a month ago, but had not called. He hesitated before pushing the call button, and wondered if this was really a good idea. Before he could overthink it, he called.<p>“Hello?”</p>
<p>His brother sounded like he had just woke up, and Damian winced. </p>
<p>“Hello, Timothy. It is Damian.”</p>
<p>“Damian, ummm, hey. How are you?”</p>
<p>“I am doing well. How are you?’</p>
<p>“I’m good. Yeah, I’m good. Malachi doesn’t have school today, so we’re just hanging out. What’s up?”</p>
<p>“Jordan had an appointment, and we are spending the afternoon together,” Damian hesitated. “We are planning to watch a movie at the theater with Jon. We have just picked out the film.”</p>
<p>“Oh? How’s Jon, I haven’t seen him in a while? What are you guys watching?”</p>
<p>“Jon is doing well. We are planning to watch <i>The Empire Strikes Back</i>. I know it is last minute, but would you like to join us?” </p>
<p>There was a beat of silence before, “What time does it start? Which mall are you at?”</p>
<p>“In thirty-five minutes, and the mall furthest west in Gotham.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I could make that. Are you sure?”</p>
<p>“I would not have called if I was not sure, Timothy.”</p>
<p>“Jeez, it was just a question, Damian. I’ll text you when I’m at the mall.”</p>
<p>“Farewell.”</p>
<p>“Bye.”</p>
<p>Damian hung up the phone and stared at it. It was strange to him that he was reaching out to Timothy before Richard, but that was life he thought. He walked into the arcade and quickly found Jordan and Jon. Jordan was completely enraptured by the game he was playing, but Jon looked at him.</p>
<p>“What was so important?”</p>
<p>“Timothy will be joining us for the movie.”</p>
<p>Jon stared at him shocked, “You invited Tim? When did you even see him?”</p>
<p>“Slightly over a month ago, but I have not seen him since.”</p>
<p>“Why didn’t you tell me?”</p>
<p>Damian shrugged, “I did not know how to react to it.”</p>
<p>“Well, I’ll throw him out if he tries any funny business.”</p>
<p>Damian rolled his eyes, but was eternally grateful to have Jon as his friend. He lingered in the arcade until the text from Timothy came through, and he excused himself to find his brother and nephew. He greeted them both as he walked up to them.</p>
<p>“This is my very first time watching this movie, Uncle Damian! I’m so excited!”</p>
<p>“Malachi, you watched this movie last week,” Timothy rubbed his forehead. </p>
<p>“Oh. If we’ve already watched it, then why are we watching it big?”</p>
<p>“Because it’s fun.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Malachi seemed to think deeply before nodding. </p>
<p>“It is truly my first time watching this movie, so no spoilers,” Damian said, joking.</p>
<p>Malachi looked at him very seriously, “I can’t promise. I get excited then shout out things.”</p>
<p>Damian had to hold back his laugh, “I will make an exception for when you become very excited then.”</p>
<p>Timothy smiled at them, and Damian thought this might have not been such a bad idea after all. They went to find Jon and Jordan, and then purchased their tickets for the movie. Damian sat between Jordan and Timothy . Both of them continuously told him facts about the Star Wars universe that he did not believe pertained to the movie. Damian was afraid to admit to them that while the movie was enjoyable, he did not think it was as fantastic as everyone else apparently believed. </p>
<p>When the movie ended, the group decided to go and find a snack to eat. Damian suddenly realized that he very desperately wished that this type of afternoon could be a regular occurrence. Not just with Timothy, but with all of his siblings. Perhaps they would be as willing to reconnect as Timothy was, Damian thought. Then he wondered if he could handle the rejection of his family again, which he did not know. As he was talking himself out of trying, Malachi placed sticky hands on Damian’s face. </p>
<p>“Uncle Damian, Felix has told me about Kelsey. Can you bring her over to play?” </p>
<p>Damian blinked, “Of course, as long as it is alright with your fathers.”</p>
<p>Tim looked at him with an incredulous expression, “Why wouldn’t it be?”</p>
<p>Damian arched his eyebrow, and looked at Jon. Jon shrugged and distracted Malachi. </p>
<p>“I have quite a few,” Damian tried to find the right word, “hesitations. Also, I do not know how easy it will be to rejoin the family.”</p>
<p>“Damian,” Tim sighed, “I really want to be a part of your life again. So does Dick, Cass, Alfie, and Steph. I’m pretty sure Jason does too. We fucked up while you were living here the first time, but could you let us try to fix it?”</p>
<p>Damian was silent while he thought about it.</p>
<p>“How about you come to the game night Kon and I host? It’s the first Sunday of every month, and Dick, Cass, Jon, Steph, and Jason usually bring their kids. It’s fun, and I promise it won’t be awkward.”</p>
<p>Damian looked at him, and actually believed that his brother wanted him to come. Damian nodded slowly. It would be an easy step to take. It would also be an easy step to back out of if the need to do so arose.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Minor grammatical and style edits on 3/7. Please let me know if I missed any errors.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Sunday, May 7th</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Damian talks to Jordan, Jordan and Hannah talk finally, and then Family Game Night</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for the late update, and I swear I will respond to the comments. I love them and hearing what you guys think. My family was in town, I have a full-time job, and I started college part-time again, so it's been a bit busy here lately. I'm not complaining at all, just trying to provide a bit of an explanation. </p>
<p>Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Kels, please hurry and take a bath! We’re gonna be getting home late tonight.”</p>
<p>Hannah scoffed at Luke’s request and Damian raised his eyebrow at his oldest daughter. Damian wasn’t entirely sure what was going on with her, but her attitude had been rapidly becoming worse. He thought that Luke had managed to convince her of her place in the family after the fight with Jordan at the end of March. Apparently, though, Luke was misguided in his evaluation of the problem. Damian thought of addressing the problem now, which would potentially make her attitude worse before meeting his siblings for game night. </p>
<p>It was probably best to wait before addressing her behaviour. He rubbed his eyelids and went to find Jordan. The teen was sitting outside watching the birds, as was his habit. Damian had been carefully monitoring the boy for any signs of ill side-effects after his re-introduction to the medicines he took to aid in his transition, and was relieved that there did not seem to be any major ill side-effects. Damian wished the boy was more comfortable around them, however, as he might not be telling them about any problems that need to be addressed. </p>
<p>Damian hoped Jordan’s avoidance of the subject was not rooted in a fear that they would force him to stop taking his pills. However, Damian thought this was probably the reason for Jordan’s quietness on the subject. He briefly wondered how long it would take for Jordan to trust them, but knew that two months was nowhere near long enough to earn a sufficient amount of trust. </p>
<p>“How are you feeling, Jordan?” </p>
<p>Brown eyes met his green eyes before darting away. Jordan shrugged. </p>
<p>“It’ll be fun to see Felix. I know I just saw him yesterday, but I miss him already.”</p>
<p>“Did you two live together before the accident?”</p>
<p>Jordan shook his head, “No, we didn’t live together, but Felix and Aunt Eliza would come over like every other day to eat dinner together. Or she would drop him off so that I could babysit while she and my parents went to some fancy charity thing. I used to get so annoyed that I had to babysit so much, but when I was with the pastor, I used to wish that I could go back and babysit him again. Even for just an hour.”</p>
<p>Damian nodded, “What the pastor did to you was very unfair on multiple levels. Please do not become angry with me when I tell you this. I have asked other social workers, not Rachel, what would happen to him if you mentioned that he completely kept you away from your family as a punishment and way to force you to conform. I believe it would be the last piece of evidence needed to cause him to lose his foster guardian license.”</p>
<p>“He hasn’t already?” Jordan looked at Damian shocked, and slightly hurt.</p>
<p>“I am very sorry, but as of the last time we spoke to Rachel, he had not. She was told that more evidence was needed as most of his other foster children do well in his home, according to your old worker’s reports. She is fighting the decision, but it is not going well. Luke and I did not tell you to avoid hurting you over this, Jordan.”</p>
<p>Jordan opened and closed his mouth before looking away, “I’ll think about telling Rachel.”</p>
<p>Damian nodded and waited, wondering if he should leave. He was about to stand up when Jordan spoke again. </p>
<p>“Umm, so my Spanish teacher told me about how she volunteers for the community center during the summer. She said that I would probably like it there, and that maybe I should consider volunteering to like, um, read and shit to the smaller kids. I thought it might be cool.”</p>
<p>“Watch your language, please, Jordan. If it is something that you would like to do, then we will figure it out.”</p>
<p>Jordan started picking at a hole in the knee of his pants, “Yeah, I think I want to check it out. She also mentioned that she could help me learn how to make some traditional Mexican dishes. I, um, never paid much attention to my mom when she was trying to teach me stuff that her mom passed down from her childhood in Mexico,” Jordan sighed. “I thought it was a way to try and be closer to her, but I guess that doesn’t make sense since it still won’t be our family recipes.” </p>
<p>“Maybe you should learn the basics of preparing Mexican food while you try to find something that will tell you the secret of your family’s recipes.”</p>
<p>“Like what?”</p>
<p>“Maybe your mother wrote down the recipes, or at least secret ingredients from your family’s recipes.”</p>
<p>Jordan nodded and looked thoughtful. </p>
<p>“Yeah, maybe. It’s worth a shot at least. Where do you think their stuff went?”</p>
<p>“I will find out for you.”</p>
<p>Damian would find the precious mementos left behind even if it meant buying everything back. He really hoped that they had not been thrown away, or he might tap into his assassin training for the first time since his childhood. Nobody would purposely hurt his children ever again, if he had any say in it.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Jordan watched Damian walk into the house wondering if Damian was being serious that he would try and find his parents’ stuff. He hoped that Damian was being serious because he would like to have a picture of the three of them together. The day that the pastor had destroyed his old clothes, the man had just thrown all of his stuff away, including his only picture.<p>Jordan had wondered if the man meant to throw away the picture of him with his parents, but he didn’t really want the answer to that question. So he never asked. Shit should he tell Rachel about what life was really like with the pastor? The old bat had brought any LGBTQ+ kid she could find to live with him, so he could “convert” them. It was absolute bullshit honestly, and Jordan had not even realized that people still believed that way until he met the two of them. A large part of Jordan wished that he still didn’t know that people like the pastor and social worker existed. </p>
<p>Jordan was starting to make a mental pros and cons list about telling Rachel when he felt someone sit down beside him. Expecting it would be Kelsey, he looked over with a forced smile. The smile dropped off his face, nearly turning into a sneer, when he saw it was Hannah. The girl still hated him, and the feeling was really building into a mutual feeling. He didn’t think Damian and Luke knew the extent of her coldness, but it was starting to get to him. Especially since Damian, Luke, and Kelsey were so great. Hannah really drove the point home that this wasn’t, and would never be, his family. No matter how much he secretly wished they could eventually be.</p>
<p>“What do you want?”</p>
<p>Jordan mentally wondered if he should be so rude when this was the first time the girl had seeked him out. </p>
<p>“I knew this was a bad idea,” she stood up and Jordan decided to see what she wanted. </p>
<p>“Wait, sorry, you just surprised me. What’s up?”</p>
<p>She sat back down hesitantly. </p>
<p>“I hate you, but I don’t want to hate you anymore.”</p>
<p>Jordan narrowed his eyes at her, she was not inspiring a desire to continue this conversation. At least she said that she didn’t want to hate him anymore.</p>
<p>“Look, Kels told me a little about your older brother.”</p>
<p>“She was so little she probably didn’t understand it all.”</p>
<p>“Probably. She said your mom ran away with you two because your dad was abusive, and your half-brother, from your dad, didn’t want you.”</p>
<p>“She had just turned four, and I was seven when it happened. I barely remember before everything went to shit, but Kelsey and I lived with Mom and Dad. Hayden was there too. He always played with me, and I loved him and thought he was the best big brother ever. Then Dad lost his job, I think, and started hurting all of us. I don’t know why, but Mom ran away with just me and Kelsey. Then Dad found us and it was awful. I still have a nightmare about it every couple of days. We went into the foster system, and I was so confused about what was going on. I was so scared. I just wanted Hayden because he was our older brother, and the only family we had left. After a month or so, I convinced Kelsey to run away with me to find Hayden. We found him in our old apartment after a couple of days. I was so happy to see him, so I ran up and hugged him.”</p>
<p>Hannah stopped telling her story to take a breath, and her voice was shaky when she continued, “He looked at me and said, ‘Why the fuck are you two here? I told them that I didn’t want you.’ I was shocked and let go. While taking a step back, I asked, ‘Why?’ He sneered at me and said, ‘Maybe I would’ve if your mom had taken me with her when she escaped, but she didn’t. So I told Dad where she was after she texted me the address because she felt guilty for leaving me. My only regret is that he killed her quickly.’ I was only seven so I didn’t notice that he was on drugs, but I kinda understood what he was telling me. I ran out of there with Kelsey and we were picked up by CPS a few days later.”</p>
<p>Jordan was horrified by the story, but she seemed to have more to say, “What happened after CPS picked you guys up?”</p>
<p>“They separated us for a couple of months. Then our case was re-assigned to Stacey, and she started finding homes that would take both of us. Six months and countless homes after Mom died, we were placed with Damian and Luke. A few months after that, Damian and Luke asked if we wanted to be adopted. We both desperately wanted to be adopted by them, but I didn’t say yes right away because I didn’t want to get my hopes up. After I said yes, it took ten months for them to officially adopt us. The entire time I was sure they would both back out and give us back to the foster system. We haven’t officially been adopted for a year, you know? So when you just showed up, I was sure they were deciding to replace at least me. I also really hate the idea of having a brother because the last one helped kill my mom.” </p>
<p>Jordan nodded. Now he really couldn’t blame Hannah for hating him. He would hate him too if he was sure that he was being replaced, and his other brother helped murder his mom because he was being petty. </p>
<p>“That really sucks, Hannah, and I’m sorry. But why are you deciding to tell me about it now?”</p>
<p>Her cheeks turned red and she looked away to answer, “Hayden and I had the same dad, so that means we share DNA. I don’t want to be like him, ever, and hating you for no reason is being like him.”</p>
<p>“You’re not like him, Hannah.”</p>
<p>“How would you know? You don’t know either of us!”</p>
<p>Good point, “Because I’ve lived with you for two months with you hating me, and I have yet to worry about being murdered.”</p>
<p>Maybe he should have phrased that differently, but too late to rephrase it now. Hannah furrowed her eyebrows and seemed to be lost in thought. Then she sighed. </p>
<p>“I haven’t wanted to murder you, so I guess that’s a pretty good reason to say me and Hayden are not the same.”</p>
<p>Jordan really wanted to change the subject from his murder, “So you seem pretty mature for your age, I guess.”</p>
<p>She shrugged, “I had to grow up when we went into the foster system. Some of our foster siblings had horror stories of really bad parents that I wanted to protect myself and Kelsey from. Then I went and got us separated because I trusted family.”</p>
<p>She sounded much more bitter than any ten year old should. Jordan felt for her. </p>
<p>“I think you can trust your family now, though.”</p>
<p>Jordan wished he could trust his gut and trust Luke and Damian too. </p>
<p>“Yeah, Luke and Damian are pretty great. I didn’t want to talk about all of this though.”</p>
<p>Jeez, why was she angry at him? She started the conversation.</p>
<p>“What did you want to talk about then?”</p>
<p>“When did you realize that you were different?”</p>
<p>Jordan narrowed his eyes again. He didn’t trust this avenue of conversation. </p>
<p>“I realized that I was transgender when I was nine.”</p>
<p>Hannah hesitated for a second, “How did you know that it was real instead of something else…”</p>
<p>She seemed to either lose her courage or not know what she wanted to ask. Jordan was now more curious than suspicious, but he was still very weary. </p>
<p>“Umm, well it just felt right to call myself a boy. After I started mentally referring to myself as a boy, then I started to experiment with cutting my hair short and other things. It all just felt right, you know? I started researching it all, and found the terms that fit. My parents helped me figure it out after I started talking to them about it.” </p>
<p>She nodded, “I kissed a boy last year on a dare, and I didn’t like it at all. At Vanessa’s sleepover, though, I was dared to kiss a girl and I did like it that time. Do you think it’s because I like girls or because I’m older?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know. Only you can really figure that out.”</p>
<p>“I like to picture myself marrying a girl more than marrying a boy. But what if I call myself a lesbian, and then realize that I’m not?”</p>
<p>“That’s fine. It’s the same as calling yourself straight then realizing that you’re not after you learn more about yourself as you grow up. You can also like both.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I guess, but one of my favorite influencers said that bisexual people are just straight people looking for attention or gay people afraid to fully embrace their identity.” </p>
<p>“That’s bullshit. It’s not up to some random person to decide what your identity or sexuality is. The only one who can figure it out is you.”</p>
<p>Hannah looked at him and slowly nodded, “OK, but what if they’re right?”</p>
<p>“Look, I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that they’re wrong. That’s something you either gonna have to trust me on, or learn for yourself. Cool?”</p>
<p>Hannah nodded, “Cool. When will we learn all the answers like Dad and Baba?”</p>
<p>“Shit. Hell if I know.”</p>
<p>Hannah and Jordan laughed. Then they heard someone clearing their throat. </p>
<p>“I don’t know if I have all the answers, but maybe I can help. Also, language Jordan.”</p>
<p>Jeez, they were always on his case about his language. </p>
<p>“Uh, no, that’s OK,” Jordan wondered why Hannah didn’t want to talk to Luke about it.</p>
<p>“Well if you change your mind, let me know. Right now we need to leave for the game night, though. Let’s go, children.”</p>
<p>Jordan rolled his eyes. He wasn’t a child, he was a teenager now.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Damian tapped his fingers on his steering wheel, annoyed at both the traffic and himself. He had seen his siblings again recently, so why was he nervous? He was nervous because he barely talked to his siblings at Alfred’s party. At least Alfred came to their family dinners on Thursdays because of that party or else it would have been a total waste of an opportunity. Damian hoped to get to a point where he invited all of his siblings to Thursday dinners.<p>He pulled into the parking area that Tim had told him to park in, and parked his car next to Jason’s vehicle. He walked out of the car with his family and up to Tim’s apartment, feeling the anxiety thrum through him. He knocks on the door and Jason lets him in. </p>
<p>“Hey y’all, come on in. How’s it hanging?”</p>
<p>“We are doing well. How are you and Felix?”</p>
<p>“Oh we’re good. The last of my classes finals are tomorrow, and I still have a thick stack of final papers to grade. Felix is having fun in school, though.”</p>
<p>“Don’t your TA’s help grade the papers?” Luke asked.</p>
<p>“What’s a TA?” </p>
<p>Jason smiled down at Kelsey while explaining, “A TA is a student that helps me out with my classes.”</p>
<p>“Oh, that’s cool. Thanks! Hey Felix! What are we playing?” </p>
<p>Kelsey ran off, and Jason chuckled. Hannah walked off to talk to Mari, while Jordan followed Kelsey and Felix. Damian and Luke followed Jason into the Living Area where Timothy, Conner, Richard, Brown, Cassandra, and a teenager that Damian did not recognize. He wondered if it was Helena, then he wondered what Helena thought of him. Damian sat down beside Richard, and nodded at the group.</p>
<p>“Dami! How’s it going?”</p>
<p>“I am feeling well Richard. How are you and Mari?”</p>
<p>“We’re doing so good! I can’t believe it’s been like a month since I saw you!”</p>
<p>Damian was not sure how to respond to that, and apparently neither did anyone else as the conversation died. Richard rubbed the back of his neck and looked around the room. Finally Timothy clapped his hands together.</p>
<p>“Alright, we were thinking about playing <i>Yahtzee!</i>, but we have other games if somebody doesn’t want to play that.” </p>
<p>A few people disagreed with the game choice, and it took another six games suggestions to settle on Charades. Damian hated Charades, but he was ready to get the game started. They settled on three groups of three. Damian was in a group with Luke and Richard, Tim was with Kon and Jason, and Cassandra was with Helena and Brown. Damian heard a loud shout of laughter from the children and was glad they were at least having fun. </p>
<p>Damian’s group lost miserably. Luke, once again, made fun of Damian’s acting skills. Apparently he was stiff and rigid according to Luke, but Richard was quick to defend Damian. Luke whispered that he thought it was cute, and Damian rolled his eyes. Damian realized that he fell into a comfortable rhythm of bickering with Luke and Richard. </p>
<p>It made him extraordinarily happy to realize this. </p>
<p>He went into the kitchen to grab another drink, and Richard followed him.</p>
<p>“That was fun.”</p>
<p>“Indeed.”</p>
<p>“I’m surprised that you said that, Little D. You used to never admit to having fun,” Richard laughed, but it sounded slightly nervous. </p>
<p>Damian chuckled, “You are right. I was a horrible child.”</p>
<p>“Oh no, Dami! You weren’t a horrible child. The situation you were in was horrible. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there for you.”</p>
<p>“What? Richard you were often the only person there for me, other than Alfred who was usually busy through no fault of his own. If it was not for you, I do not know how I would have turned out. You were more of a father to me than Father was.”</p>
<p>“Then why did you tell me to leave you alone? I would’ve followed you to the ends of the Earth to protect you.”</p>
<p>“I did not want you to choose between the family and me.”</p>
<p>“We all picked you over Bruce then, Dami. And we always will.”</p>
<p>Damian felt his throat begin to close up, and he nodded. Richard pulled him into a hug which Damian returned fiercely. Happy to have his brother back in his life.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Minor grammatical and style edits on 3/7. Please let me know if I missed anything.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Thursday, May 18th</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Unexpected guests, family dinner, and Luke gone on vacation. Will Damian cope?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm so sorry, I did not mean to put this story on a hiatus. I got overwhelmed and it took me forever to feel like I had everything back under control. </p>
<p>And as always, thanks for reading.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Damian had to bite back his urge to yell at his children to get them moving this morning. For some reason none of them wanted to focus on preparing for school. Instead they seemed to think driving Damian mad was the best course of action this morning. They needed to leave the house eight minutes ago, but he had just now convinced his children to change for school. He was currently rushing around the house, gathering the items strewn about that they would need for their after-school activities that day. </p>
<p>It didn’t help that Luke left on a business trip the previous night, and wouldn’t be back to help him manage the chaos until Sunday night. </p>
<p><i>If the children hated what he made for breakfast, wait until they pull out their lunches</i>, Damian thought darkly, for once happy with his lack of cooking skills. </p>
<p>“Baba, is Alfie coming to dinner tonight even without Daddy here to cook?” Kelsey asked as she descended the stairs. </p>
<p>Damian mentally cursed as he remembered Thursday night dinner, which both Alfred and Richard were invited to. Would they be able to find a restaurant that was up to Alfred’s standards? Even if they did, he doubted they would sit a large group without a reservation or advanced notice.</p>
<p>That didn’t matter, though, as he still needed to do a half dozen things before leaving the house. </p>
<p>“I don’t know, Kelsey. We shall see. Gather your soccer equipment for your practice this afternoon, and hurry. We are already running late.”</p>
<p>“Oh my God, what are you wearing?”</p>
<p>Damian looked at his outfit after his middle child’s outburst. It didn’t look bad, and definitely didn’t warrant Hannah’s cruel tone. Then he looked at Kelsey’s outfit and saw the problem. He weighed his options before deciding that it wouldn’t hurt his daughter to go to school in that outfit. Every six-year-old went to school in clashing colors and patterns at least once, right?</p>
<p>“Hannah, don’t be cruel. Kelsey your outfit is fine, go gather your things. Hannah do you have everything you need?”</p>
<p>“Yeah my props for the play are at school, where they stay,” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.</p>
<p>Damian narrowed his eyes, “I meant your homework, Hannah Taylor, and notes.”</p>
<p>“Oh, um, yeah, I have all that,” Hannah said before retreating into the kitchen, afraid of Damian grounding her because of her attitude. </p>
<p>Which was a possibility, as her attitude kept getting worse as the days passed by. Damian pinched the bridge of his nose, wanting it to be Sunday already. How was it so much harder being alone with his three children? Were they ganging up on him? Could he survive this weekend, especially when Felix comes over tomorrow to spend the weekend?</p>
<p>Someone knocked on the door, breaking him out of his self-pitying internal monologue. He walked to the door, wondering who it could be, and opened it to reveal his step-mother, well former step-mother he mentally corrected, with his sister. He had only seen Helena one time since he moved back to Gotham, and that was at Game Night. He barely recognized her that night and hadn’t even talked to the girl. Selina, on the other hand, looked as if she hadn’t aged a day. Then he noticed the small suitcase Helena was holding.</p>
<p>“Kyle, this is a surprise. I wish I could entertain you both, but I need to drop my children off at school. We are already running very late.”</p>
<p>“Damian, it’s good to see you,” Selina purred. “Don’t worry, I won’t take up too much of your time. I need you to watch Helena for about a week, until next Friday. I would ask Alfred, but he has plans for a long weekend starting tomorrow. Tim and Connor are on their annual anniversary trip, and she needs to be in Gotham for her archery practice so that knocks out Dick. I guess you could split the time with Jason, but I need someone to keep a close eye on her. I caught her sneaking out the other day.”</p>
<p>“Mom,” Helena protested, sounding scandalized. </p>
<p>Selina brushed her off, seemingly unconcerned about embarrassing the teen, “I trust her to make the right decisions, but I need to know where she comes and goes. Also, I think Jason’s leaving for the weekend too, come to think of it. I don’t know what Bruce is doing, but she’s mad at him right now.”</p>
<p>“Because he’s a controlling prick,” Helena muttered. </p>
<p>Selina tilted her head in acknowledgment, “So that leaves you. She has a hybrid schedule, so she does not need to go to school today as long as you have decent WiFi at the animal clinic you work at. Thanks, Damian. I owe you! We should catch up when I get back, and you can tell me why I was a part of your culling. I would love to meet your children, as well. I love you kitten..”</p>
<p>Selina had already started walking away as she shouted the last few sentences. Damian looked at his younger sister, flabbergasted about what just happened. She seemed just as perplexed, so he doubted he could determine the reason behind Selina’s actions from her. His step-mother had always been eccentric, though. </p>
<p>“Well then, Helena, come on in as I guess you will be staying here for the next week. Just leave your suitcase in the living area, and we will figure out sleeping arrangements after school. We do need to leave as soon as possible, though, so please gather your school items.” </p>
<p>“It’s all here, in my backpack,” Helena said as she studied the house. </p>
<p>“Excellent. Excuse me. Children, are you ready?” Damian shouted, hoping to leave before school started at the very least. </p>
<p>After a flurry of putting on shoes, rushing to grab last minute items, and bickering siblings, Damian finally got the kids in the car. He first dropped off Jordan right as the bell rang, and sped off to the girls’ school. He was about fifteen minutes late, which wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, but Vice Principal Rosa was not pleased. </p>
<p>“Mr. Wayne-Miller, please wait a moment.”</p>
<p>Damian internally groaned at the thought of another tardiness lecture, “I only have a moment, Vice Principal.”</p>
<p>“I just wanted to remind you about the upcoming PTA meeting on Monday night. We will be discussing the End of School bake sale. We would like to hear your preliminary ideas at that time.” </p>
<p><i>What in the ever-loving fuck was she talking about?</i> Damian wondered, before he remembered agreeing to head the fundraiser months ago. Fuck!</p>
<p>“Ah, yes, good. What time is the meeting?”</p>
<p>“5:30.”</p>
<p>“Excellent, I’ll be there.”</p>
<p>Damian quietly cursed the entire way back to his car, hoping this morning had all just been a bad dream. </p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div><p>“Why are you so annoying?”</p>
<p>“No, you’re annoying!” </p>
<p>“Not as annoying as you!”</p>
<p>“You’re both annoying, so stop comparing notes!” Jason finally snapped. </p>
<p>He had agreed to pick up Hannah and Kelsey for Damian because of some sort of emergency. After spending exactly four and half minutes with the bickering sisters, he had had enough. Next time Damian needed help, Jason was going to say no. Whatever was in it for Jason was not worth the damn headache. </p>
<p>Especially since Kelsey promptly started crying after Jason snapped at her, which made him feel like a dick. Then Hannah started looking out the window, blinking back tears, and Felix was staring at Jason with wide eyes. </p>
<p>Fuck, he had not handled this situation well.</p>
<p>“OK, OK. I’m sorry girls, neither of you are annoying. You both were just getting on my nerves with the arguing.”</p>
<p>That didn’t help. </p>
<p>Kelsey was still crying, Hannah was still refusing to look at him, and Felix was still eerily silent when they reached Damian’s house. Kelsey ran in the house, leaving the door wide open, and the other kids followed. Jason walked in, shutting and locking the door behind him because even a nice part of Gotham was still Gotham. He walked through the house, following the sounds of Kelsey’s sobs, until he found his brother with Kelsey clinging to him. Hannah and Felix seemed to be taking turns tattling on Jason while Jordan and Helena hovered at the backdoor looking like they wanted to escape. </p>
<p>What the fuck was Helena doing over here?</p>
<p>Never mind, that was not the biggest problem. The biggest problem was the look Damian had in his eyes. </p>
<p>Jason was pretty sure he was going to die today. </p>
<p>He threw up his hands and tried to defend himself, “Look, I snapped. I apologized, but it doesn’t erase the fact that I snapped. I feel bad about it.”</p>
<p>Damian rolled his eyes, although Jason doubted any of the kids could see it, “See, Kelsey, it was just an emotional response. He does not think you are annoying. Please go play with your aunt and brother. Hanah, Felix, you go play too. Thank you.” </p>
<p>Jason hadn’t missed the part where Damian seemed to unconsciously call Jordan Kelsey’s brother, but he didn’t want to think about that right now. Kelsey detached herself from Damian, still sniffling, but ran outside. The other two ran out behind her, with Felix slamming the door. Jason winced, making a mental note to talk to him about slamming doors. </p>
<p>“I call them annoying on a near daily basis, just not to their faces.”</p>
<p>“Noted. Talk shit about your kid only when they aren’t around,” Jason mimed writing on a piece of paper. </p>
<p>Damian laughed a little, “It is easily the most vital rule of parenting, in my opinion. After keeping them healthy, fed, clothed, and housed, of course.” </p>
<p>Jason laughed before realizing how weird it was to be joking around with his youngest brother. Who would have thought this would be happening even a year ago? Not him, that was for sure. </p>
<p>But, to be fair, Jason also hadn’t expected to have a kid that he was raising on his own even a year ago. Life was funny that way, he guessed. </p>
<p>“So what was the emergency?” Jason asked before he had too much time to reflect on the mysterious path of life. </p>
<p>“Luke is gone on a business trip until Sunday night, we have our weekly family dinner tonight and I still don’t know how to cook, I now have to brainstorm a preliminary plan for a school wide bake sale to present to the PTA on Monday, and Selina dropped off Helena this morning to stay for a week, completely out of the blue. I think this weekend might do me in, quite honestly,” Damian said with a dry chuckle before drinking deeply from his wine glass. “Would you like a glass of this red?”</p>
<p>“Uh, yeah, sure. So what do you need help with?” </p>
<p>Jason took the offered glass and drank deeply as well, hoping Damian wouldn’t ask him to make other plans for Felix this weekend. </p>
<p>“Can you cook a dinner big enough for nine people?”</p>
<p>“Nine people? I mean I can, but why the hell are there so many people?”</p>
<p>Damian looked surprised, “You can? I would gladly accept any assistance. To answer your inquiry, however, Alfred, Richard, Mari, and Malcahi are coming over and that makes nind when you add Hannah, Jordan, Helena, Kelsey, and I. Of course you and Felix both can stay, so that would make eleven people.”</p>
<p>“OK, sure. If Dick and Alfie are coming with the kids, why wasn’t Felix and I invited? And why is Malachi coming with Dick? Did you not invite Connor and Tim over either?”</p>
<p>Damian rolled his eyes, “Richard is watching Malachi for Timothy and Conner while they go on holiday for their anniversary. So you can cook a dinner large enough for eleven people?”</p>
<p>Jason furrowed his eyebrows, but decided to drop the issue of not being invited until Damian needed something. He probably wouldn’t have said yes, anyways. Jason impulsively pulled out his phone and invited Cass and Steph, just to fuck with the brat.</p>
<p>“What time is dinner?” Jason asked after the text was sent.</p>
<p>“Seven.”</p>
<p>Jason looked at the clock on his phone and saw that there was only an hour and half until dinner. There was no fucking way he could a big enough dinner for elven, scratch that thirteen as Steph texted back an affirmative, people in an hour and a half. He texted Steph to let her know the time, before turning his attention back to Damian.</p>
<p>“Well, shit, baby brat, that barely gives us enough time. I’ll have to call in the big guns to help, but I’m sure Alfie would be willing to spare some manpower. Do you have a big enough area for thirteen people to eat at?”</p>
<p>“Thirteen people? I only counted eleven,” Damian said while looking around his kitchen and dining area. </p>
<p>Jason pulled out his phone to call Alfred, “Yeah, but I invited Steph and Cass. That makes thirteen.” Alfred answered and Jason switched to talking to him, “Hey, Alfred, Damian has found himself in a pickle and needs help cooking dinner for thirteen people by seven. Can you help us?”</p>
<p>Alfred responded without missing a beat, “Of course, Master Jason. I have already prepared a large casserole on the chance that a situation like this should arise. I will leave momentarily bringing it with me.”</p>
<p>“Great, Alfie, you’re the best. Damian and I will start cooking some sides. What do you want us to cook?”</p>
<p>Alfred listed a few side dishes that would pair nicely with the casserole before hanging up. Jason started rummaging through Damian’s cabinets to gather his bearings in a new kitchen and look for the ingredients needed. </p>
<p>“What shall I do to help?”</p>
<p>Jason pulled some things out of the cabinets before handing Damian a knife, “Start cutting vegetables.”</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div><p>Jordan sat on the bench facing the bird feeder outside while keeping his eye on the three youngest kids. He and Helena were supposed to be watching them as the Dick, Damian, Jason, and Alfred were finishing preparing the meal. It was hectic when it was just Kelsey and Felix, but adding Malachi to the mix created mayhem. Jordan quickly realized he couldn’t keep them quiet or playing nicely, so now he was just keeping them from doing something stupid. </p>
<p>Jordan glanced over at Helena and briefly wondered what the hell was going on with his life. She was beautiful, not that he was attracted to her since she was like his aunt. She easily could have been the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was tall, like Damian, had black hair the same color as Damian’s, blue eyes, and a lot of the same facial features as Damian. The family resemblance was obvious, which brought Jordan back to wondering how life put him on this path. </p>
<p>Before the accident, he doubted he would have ever seen, let alone talked, to someone as beautiful, or wealthy, or smart as one of the Wayne’s. Even meeting the Wayne’s outside of some fundraiser was totally out of the question too, since his family lived in a poor part of Gotham. </p>
<p>Although, Jason lived in Crime Alley, so it might not have been such a stretch. </p>
<p>Jordan noticed that Helena looked upset by whatever was on her phone, and wondered if he should ask her about it. Probably not, though. He didn’t like it when people asked him what was wrong. </p>
<p>Helena noticed his staring and she shrugged her shoulders, “My best friend Kara just texted me saying that she thought we were better as best friends than girlfriends. It’s not the first time, and probably won’t be the last.” </p>
<p>Jordan didn’t know what to say, “That sucks.”</p>
<p>Helena nodded with her lips pressed tightly together, “Yeah. Oh well, life goes on.” She looked away for a minute before turning back to him and whispered, “What’s life like with my most mysterious brother?”</p>
<p>Jordan shrugged his shoulders, “It’s alright. Damian and Luke are nice, and Kelsey and Hannah are fun.”</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t know,” Helena said, bitterly. </p>
<p>Jordan didn’t know what went down between Damian and his family, but he got the sense that it was very complicated and hurtful for all parties involved. </p>
<p>“I don’t remember him, you know? I was only four when he left, and ripped my family apart.” </p>
<p>“The blame should not be placed on Master Damian, Miss Helena. I have attempted to inform you of this multiple times now, but you will not listen to me about it. Unfortunately we do not have time to discuss the matter at this moment as it is time to wash up for dinner, but you should have enough time to discuss the past with Master Damian over this next week. Hopefully there is also enough time for you to get to know at least one of your siblings. ”</p>
<p>“Which was undoubtedly my mother’s plan all along, since she’s never cared before about me being mad at Dad before,” Helena muttered under her breath. </p>
<p>Jordan watched her walk into the house and looked at Alfred who looked very sad. Whatever happened tore this whole family apart. Jordan wasn’t sure he wanted to spend a week with Helena in the small house, but it also seemed like there wasn’t much of a choice. </p>
<p>Jordan followed Alfred into the house. The kitchen and dining area was nearly overflowing with people and noise. Dick was chasing Malachi, Felix, and Kelsey around the house, playfully shouting about washing faces. Hannah and Mari were rolling their eyes at them, and barely holding back giggles. Damian looked like he was about to burst a vein above his eye as he shouted at Dick to settle down which made Jason join the chase to irritate Damian. Alfred looked resigned to the lack of manners, and Helena recorded the chaos while she laughed freely, seemingly over the bad mood she briefly settled into outside. </p>
<p>Jordan smiled at the scene, glad to briefly be a part of this strange and loud family. It reminded him a little of his family get-togethers in Texas. The kids outnumbered the adults two-to-one, and never seemed to stay quiet long enough for the adults to catch up. The weekends in that little apartment in Texas were some of his favorite memories. </p>
<p>Too bad he would never actually be a part of this family. He was just Felix’s cousin and Jason’s future foster son. Jordan was glad, though, that Felix would get to experience some wild family get-togethers of his own, since the other side of their family stopped contacting Jordan and Felix’s parents because of Jordan’s identity. He was relieved that he hadn’t caused Felix to never have those happy memories after all, and he would gladly step to the side to ensure Felix could have some more of these memories. </p>
<p>“Come on, Jordan. We have to save the young ones since Hannah and Mari are ‘too cool’ to get involved,” Helena shouted, looking over at the teen with a huge grin on her face.</p>
<p>Jordan hesitated before laughing, but it wouldn’t hurt to take part of the fun while he was there. He ran over to the chaos that was destroying the living area with Helena. It didn’t take long before the two teens were hit in the face by pillows and Helena unleashed a vicious war crime before full-on wrestling with her oldest brothers. The youngest kids tried to help her, but really they just got in the way. Jordan spent his time keeping them from being hit by flying elbows and kicks that missed their mark. He hit the adults with a few well aimed pillow strikes, too, when the opportunity presented itself. </p>
<p>Jordan was having so much fun he didn’t hear the front door open, revealing Cass, Steph, and May. The former who rolled her eyes at the pile and took May from her wife and into the kitchen. The latter instantly joined the pile with a shrieking laugh. Dick, Jason, and Steph were nearly successful in battling back Jordan, Helena, Felix, Malachi, and Kelsey, until Hannah and Mari decided to join in. </p>
<p>With the addition of the two pre-teen girls, Damian decided to stop shouting for calm and actually wade into the human pile in his living room. He tried to avoid fighting and attempted to pick out the youngest kids to create some form of calm. Both sides of the fight, however, joined together to pelt Damian with pillows. </p>
<p>Damian let curses fly out of his mouth freely in both Arabic and English before they all stopped at the sound of Alfred clearing his throat. Jordan looked around at the carnage and could barely contain his laughter. The couch was overturned, pillows were strewn all over, textbooks and homework were flung across the floor, Jason was lying on his back panting, stuffed animals lay in all kinds of positions over the floor, furniture, and somehow the ceiling light, Steph and Dick were holding Damian’s arms, and the little kids were hanging off of Damian’s arms and leg, Helena, Mari, and Hannah were in various positions on the floor also barely containing their laughter. </p>
<p>It was a miracle nobody got hurt. Or, more likely, it was Alfred’s watchful eye. </p>
<p>“Well I hope that you have burned the energy out of your systems. Please go wash up and return to the table before the food cools. Master Dick and Master Jason, I hope you will help your brother clean this room after we eat.”</p>
<p>“You got it Alfie,” said Jason with a grunt of effort as he stood up. </p>
<p>“Of course, Alfie,” Dick said as he pulled Damian into a hug, squishing the kids in the process. “I don’t want Little D to be mad at me forever.”</p>
<p>Damian rolled his eyes and shoved Dick before muttering more curses under his breath. </p>
<p>“Uncle Dick, Uncle Dick! Can we come spend the night tomorrow night since Felix is going to be here too? Please,” Malachi drew out the last word, and Jordan watched Dick’s heart melt.</p>
<p>“Of course we can! Right, Little D? We can come spend the night tomorrow, right?”</p>
<p>Damian looked between his oldest brother and nephew’s pleading faces and sighed, “Yes, you can come. You better not leave me alone, though, Richard, or I will exact painful revenge,” he said in a threatening whisper.</p>
<p>Cheers rang out throughout the room, and Damian looked towards the ceiling, obviously regretting his decision already.</p>
<p><i> Yeah, Felix definitely deserves more fun family memories like these,</i> Jordan thought.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I went back and edited the chapters. I also added the PTA dinner thing to the first chapter, but that's the only thing I added.</p>
<p>I also realize that Helena and Kara's age gap should really be huge, but for this story, Kara's the same age. </p>
<p>Please let me know if you see any errors that need to be fixed.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Friday, May 19th</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The sleepover</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Warning - mention of previous abuse.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jordan had already been awake for a while when he heard Damian and Luke’s bedroom door open softly. He usually woke up before anyone else and stayed in his room until he heard someone else moving around. He had been having trouble sleeping, and he didn’t want anyone else to know about it. So he had been trying to reflect and center his energy before interacting with anyone else. He didn’t want anybody to realize he was having a problem sleeping, or that the problem had been going on for around 170 days, according to his last count. </p><p>He had an extra reason for staying in bed this morning, though, and that reason was Helena who was currently sleeping in Hannah’s room. He and Helena had talked more during dinner and clean-up, but talking to a random teen during a family dinner was different than interacting with a random teen during breakfast. At least she wasn’t sleeping on the pull-out sofa, though. How awkward would that be?</p><p>Kelsey had a bunk bed for reasons unknown to her parents, apparently, since they regularly tried to convince her to buy a new bed. The little kid maintained that she needed the bunk bed, though, for friends to sleep in. Damian always asked her if she actually planned on inviting friends over, since she never had before, while Luke told her they could sleep in sleeping bags downstairs just as easily. Kelsey ignored all this, though, and wouldn’t change her mind about the bunk beds. </p><p>Kelsey had told him the real reason, but swore him to secrecy with a pinkie promise. She liked sleeping on the top bunk, because it made her feel tall. The problem was, though, that Damian and Luke told her not to sleep on the top bunk in case she fell off. It was a valid point, and Jordan was going to tell Damian and Luke soon. However, he didn’t want Kelsey to get mad at him for breaking her trust. So he’s kept the secret for a few weeks now, while telling himself he was definitely going to tell tomorrow. </p><p>But it would make much more sense to wait until Helena left before telling, right? </p><p><i>Absolutely,</i> he thought. </p><p>After he settled that discussion in his mind, he got up and stretched before going to his small dresser. He picked up the medicine divider and dumped out his daily vitamins and supplements into his hand. There were quite a few of them to keep his bones and everything healthy and strong while he was taking the puberty blockers. They tasted awful, but it was something he barely recognized now. </p><p>He moved away from his dresser to his backpack that was laying on the floor and looked through it to find the note from his teacher. She wanted to find out if Damian and Luke were going to let him volunteer at her community center this summer, and if they were, offering to help out with rides to and from the center. He had rolled his eyes when she handed him the note and told her to just email it to them, but she insisted this was better. </p><p>Maybe he shouldn’t tell Damian about it right now, though, when he was taking care of Helena and the kids while Luke was gone. It just added stress. </p><p>But it was now Friday, and Mrs. Hernandez gave him the note earlier in the week when he said that he was on board after thinking about it for a little while. He needed to get a yes or no soon. </p><p>Jordan took the note downstairs and walked to the kitchen before stopping when he heard hushed voices. </p><p>“No, Helena. I’m not going to let you stay at Tim and Connor’s when there is not anybody there.”</p><p>“Why the fuck not? I’m capable of handling myself and I don’t want to stay here. My mom just left me here to force us to bond.”</p><p>There was a beat of silence, “I can take you to the Manor, if you would like. I am not, however, going to allow you to stay in an empty apartment in Gotham. I do not care how capable you are. You are fifteen and under my care for the week, no matter what your mother’s intentions were.” Damian softened his voice to say, “You are more than welcome here, Helena, and I would not be opposed to bonding with you in the first place.” </p><p>“Jesus! You’re just as uptight and controlling as Dad. How did you two not get along?” Helena didn’t bother lowering her voice, or keeping the sarcasm out of it. </p><p>Jordan crept closer to the kitchen and heard Damian sigh, “Helena I do not know what you remember or have heard, but I assure you that my leaving was not simply a matter of not getting along.”</p><p>Helena scoffed. “Oh I’ve heard all about how you were mistreated and ignored by Dad,” Helena said in a bitter tone. “Well get the fuck over it, Damian! We all were. You just decided to rip the family a part instead of pulling up your big boy pants and letting it go like the rest of us.” </p><p>Jordan heard the back door slam and crumpled his note in his hand. Right now was definitely not the time to ask Damian about volunteering at the community center.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Damian pulled the packaged pizzas out of the freezer and winced as he read the nutrition label. How could anyone stomach this garbage? Kelsey and Hannah had requested, or more actually demanded, he buy it for the sleepover tonight. He hoped Richard, Mari, and Malachi enjoyed this monstrosity, too. Sure that his daughters were wrong, Damian had originally decided he would make a salad for everyone else.<p>When he went to purchase the vegetables, though, Kelsey and Hannah informed him that he was meant to be buying chips and dip and popcorn, not salad. When he secretly asked Jordan about it, the teen confirmed his daughters’ assertions that junk food was supposed to be the entire menu during a sleepover. He bought the vegetables anyway, though, so he would have something to eat.</p><p>He heard someone enter the kitchen followed by a whiny voice saying, “When are they coming over?”</p><p>Damian clenched his jaw to avoid groaning. He had heard the same question at least a thousand times since he picked up everyone from school. His youngest daughter, who he loved very much, was grating on his last nerve. </p><p>“As I told you before, Kelsey, I do not know the specifics for when Richard or Jason are coming over. I am sure it will be soon, though. Perhaps you would enjoy joining everyone outside in the meantime?”</p><p>It was phrased as a question, but it was not. Thankfully Kelsey understood that it was not a question and went out the backdoor. Damian was thankful to have a tiny yard, and even more thankful for the large fence topped by an electric barrier surrounding the yard. According to the salesperson who sold the extra barrier, only birds could go over the fence. </p><p>However, it was Gotham so Damian kept a watchful eye on the window facing the backyard whenever any of his kids were outside. He had not trusted that the salesman was not lying to secure a sale. He was so sure the salesman had been lying, in fact, that initially he nearly refused to let his children go outside without supervision. Luke had laughed and told him that he was too paranoid, so he told Luke of some of the danger he knew to be in Gotham from listening to Commissioner Gordon discuss random cases with his father a long time ago. Luke had still let the kids go, but did not laugh at Damian for being too paranoid anymore.</p><p>He recalled when he lived with his mother and she had forced him to dangle off a cliffside with venomous snakes lying at his feet. He was not allowed to move until his arms became so tired, he was sure they could no longer support his weight, little on aid him in any attempt to pull himself to safety. Only then could he attempt to save himself. That day was his clearest memory of knowing fear, and he was sure that he would never reach that level of fear again. </p><p>The fear he felt that day was eclipsed by the fear he felt one day when he looked out the window and could not see his children. That day he instantly dropped the bowl in his hands, barely registering it when he heard it shatter, and rushed outside. When he discovered that Hannah and Kelsey were merely lying on the ground to look at insects, he nearly slid to the ground out of relief. The girls had not understood it when Damian became furious with them, something he deeply regrets to this day, but promised they would never play out of sight of the window again. </p><p>His fear about tonight’s sleepover was nearly as potent as the fear from that day. He doubted he could handle watching five children and Richard with only himself and Jordan as chaperones. Helena might help, but she sulked the entire way home when he picked her up from school so he was not counting on her aid. Damian considered begging Todd to stay and help. He quickly dismissed that notion, however, when he realized that Todd was just as likely to join in on Richard’s tomfoolery then help rein in the children. </p><p>Damian regretted not inviting Cassandra and Brown, he honestly had no idea what her married name was. While Brown would undoubtedly cause chaos in his home, Cassandra would rein in not only her wife but the children as well. He did not want to potentially scar baby May for life by introducing her to two nights of Wayne family chaos in a row, though. She had her entire life to be subjected to that. </p><p>When Damian heard a knock on his door, he steeled his nerves. He was an Al Ghul. He was bred to be fearless, and eventually the head of the League of Assassins. He had already fought, and killed, grown men when he was Malachi’s age. One mere sleepover would not destroy Damian Al Ghul-Wayne-Miller; in fact he would look upon this night and laugh with Luke in the future. </p><p>Damian’s knees buckled when he reached the door and heard Felix and Malachi’s loud shouts of joy at seeing each other. There was no hope for him or his living room.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>It was chaos. It was darkness and despair. War had been waged in his living room.<p>At least it was over for now, though. Still, Damian was sure he would dream about it tonight. </p><p>He looked out at the room, mentally calculating that it would take at least three years to clean up. He felt his scowl melt off his face, though, when he saw his daughters sleeping in their sleeping bags surrounded by their cousins. Maybe the torture of this evening was worth it from how much fun his kids had. </p><p>Then his scowl came back in full force when he saw Richard grinning at him, the bastard. He was right when he thought that his eldest brother would not be helping him control the chaos. In fact, he thought seventy-five percent of the chaos was Richard’s doing. He was sure the man was feeding the kids sugar when Damian wasn’t looking.</p><p>“This was fun, wasn’t it Little D? We should do it again, sometime!” his brother whispered-shouted.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>Richard started pouting and Damian rolled his eyes. He walked into the kitchen to see Jordan and Helena tidying up in there. He was sure they both disappeared sometime around the fourth pillow fight/wrestling match and second movie. He was right about Jordan helping him manage the chaos, even though he told the kid that he could join in on the fun whenever he wanted. He was wrong about Helena, though. She helped keep the children in line, although she joined in on their shenanigans quite a bit too.</p><p>Damian did not blame Helena for her unkind thoughts about him. She was too young to have remembered him from when he still lived at the Manor, and he doubted Father spoke about him that often. He also understood how she came to blame him for ripping her family into pieces. And a part of him knew that he would blame himself too, if he was in her shoes. </p><p>“You did not need to clean up the kitchen, but I appreciate it. I can take it from here, if you both would like to watch the movie.” </p><p>“We’re almost finished,” Jordan responded.</p><p>Helena nodded but kept her back to him. Damian nodded and thanked them before walking back out of the kitchen. He walked over to Richard who was attempting to clean up the popcorn from the floor without waking any of the kids. Damian crouched down and joined him, weary the food might attract vermin.</p><p>“You really didn’t have fun, little D?” Richard asked with a pout on his face. </p><p>“The children had fun, that’s all that matters,” Damian responded in a whisper.</p><p>“Hmmm. I think you had fun too, but you don’t want to admit it.”</p><p>“You are allowed to have your own thoughts about the matter, no matter how wrong they are.”</p><p>Richard and Damian cleaned up in silence for a while before Richard whispered almost too quietly for Damian to hear, “What’s going on with Helena?”</p><p>Damian frowned, “She wishes for me to allow her to spend the week at Timothy’s, alone. She is upset I said no. She also does not want to spend time with me.”</p><p>Richard blinked before looking away, “Did she say that?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Dami, whatever else she said, just know that Alfie, Tim, and I told her it was wrong. -”</p><p>“It is alright, Richard,” Damian interrupted.</p><p>Richard did not look convinced but dropped it. They continued to tidy up as much as possible without waking up anyone. Jordan and Helena joined them in the living area but did not help clean up, instead choosing to finish the movie that Richard brought. Richard and Jordan went to bed as the movie finished, and Damian was left alone with Helena. He wanted to go to bed since he was exhausted, but he was a little afraid the teen would run away to Timothy’s if he left her alone.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” the quiet voice startled him. </p><p>Damian looked over at his sister who was still not looking at him, “For what, Helena?”</p><p>“I was rude and cruel to you this morning, and I’m sorry about that.”</p><p>Damian hesitated, “That’s alright. You do not need to want to bond with me, and you were right about it being my fault that the family fell apart.”</p><p>“I do - I do want to get to know you. And I don’t completely blame you, you know? It sucks, but it happened before I could remember it so I don’t remember if you had it any worse than the rest of us. But I would do the same thing, and have thought about doing it. A lot,” Helena rubbed the back of her neck as she spoke and still refused to look at him.</p><p>Damian nodded even though Helena could not see it,  “I’m truly sorry for the inadvertent pain I caused you, Helena. I am also sorry that you know the pain of Father’s neglect. I wish I could make it up to you, somehow.”</p><p>She shrugged, “I really don't blame you that much. I just lashed out because of how much fun yesterday was, and tonight. And I’m in a new place. All I could think about as I fell asleep was that if you hadn’t left, my childhood could’ve been just as filled with laughter and roughhousing. That’s stupid, right?”</p><p>Damian let out a breath, “No, it’s not stupid. What-if’s seem to haunt us the most in life when we are faced with change.”</p><p>Helena nodded before inhaling and exhaling deeply, “Yeah, it seems to be.”</p><p>They were quiet for a moment before Damian teased, “How would you know?”</p><p>He hoped Helena didn’t mistake his teasing for being serious, and was relieved when she laughed lightly.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I tried to make this all fluff, but I ended up adding more emotional stuff than I meant to. </p><p>If you see any errors, please let me know. </p><p>I'm going to try and stick to posting once a week on Tuesdays. </p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Wednesday, May 30th</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Warning: slight mentions of suicide and depression</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I just finished writing this, and have not read over it to edit it. That will happen tomorrow, so sorry in advance for weird grammar and spelling. </p><p>Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jordan woke up and stared at the ceiling, debating how sick he would need to act in order to trick Damian and Luke. He rolled over to his side and faked a cough, hoping to be a little more convincing. He had never really faked being sick before, because his parents had been understanding that sometimes you need to take a break from school and school was the only time he got away from the pastor. He had seen plenty of kids fake being sick on tv, so he was sure he could fake it.</p><p>A knock sounded on his bedroom door so he made his voice sound weak, “Come in.”</p><p>Damian opened the door and stepped inside the room just enough to close the door before speaking, “Jordan, I know what today is. If you need to stay home and be alone, please let me know.”</p><p>Tears pooled in Jordan’s eyes and he nodded. “Ye-ah, I need to be a-lone,” he whispered with his voice breaking. </p><p>Damian nodded, “I will be staying home today, but I will not bother you. When it is time to eat, I will leave your food outside your door and knock to let you know it is there.”</p><p>Damian left and Jordan rolled onto his stomach to bury his head in his pillow. He wanted to keep the tears at bay until the others left because he knew was going to sob. He didn’t want Kelsey and Hannah hearing him and potentially worrying them. They had things they needed to focus on, and he wasn’t going to distract them. </p><p>Crying into his pillow silently wasn’t easy, though, when he was feeling his heart shatter into pieces over and over and over again. He bunched his hands into the sheets and clenched his jaw as the tears fell. Concentrating on his grip was keeping him from falling to pieces. </p><p>Finally, after what felt like hours and gallons of tears, Jordan heard the door slam. He rolled over onto his back and grabbed his pillow. He cradled his pillow into his chest as sobs tore through his body, rocking him violently. Jordan thought he should have been out of tears, but fresh ones kept falling onto his cheeks and hands. </p><p>He hadn’t cried like this since he was a small kid and his mom was there to hold him. His mom wasn’t there to comfort him this time, though, and that was what his tears were for.</p><p>Today marked six months since that last time he got to see his mother. </p><p>Six months since he got to hug her. </p><p>Six months since he saw her laugh and his dad’s smile. </p><p>Six months since his dad told a corny joke that Jordan pretended to hate. </p><p>Six months since Jordan’s whole world was turned on its axis. </p><p>It might have been six months since the accident, but Jordan’s grief still was still as fresh today as it was the day it happened. </p><p>Jordan cried until exhaustion overtook him and his dreams were plagued with the memories of his parents lying in their caskets. These memories had invaded his dreams nearly every night since the funeral, and Jordan was terrified it was going to be the only lasting memory he had of his parents. </p><p>It’s why he hadn’t been sleeping well, but also why he refuses to talk to anyone about it. </p><p>Because to Jordan even this terrible memory that was as clear as though it just happened, was better than a foggy memory that could continuously fade away into nothing.</p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Jordan woke up with a headache and the feeling that he needed to wash his face. He wasn’t surprised by this, but he was surprised that he fell asleep in the first place. He didn’t remember falling asleep. <p>He walked out of his room and into the bathroom where he washed his face. He debated taking a quick shower, but he really didn’t want to. He just wanted to go back into his room and stare at the ceiling until he fell asleep. Maybe never wake up again. </p><p>That wasn’t a helpful thought, or really a new one. <i>Can’t tell Luke, Dr. Lopez, or Damian about that,</i> Jordan thought. Jordan checked his phone and saw that it was a little after three. Fuck, he needed to take a shower and clean up a little bit. How would Kelsey and Hannah feel if they saw him wallowing like this? </p><p>He stared listlessly at the wall for a long time before gritting his teeth and washing up. It took so much more effort than it usually did, but he finished. He dried himself and went to his room, looking around for some clean clothes. The clothes had been piling up in his room and it took a while before he found a relatively clean outfit. He had just finished putting the outfit on when he heard the door open. </p><p>He plastered a smile on his face, not even taking a moment to reflect on how easy it was for him to fake the smile, before walking downstairs. He looked around but he did not see Kelsey or Hannah or Luke, which was weird since they were usually home by this time. He walked outside to the bench facing the bird feeder and took a seat, exhausted. </p><p>He didn’t know why the little bit of exercise took so much out of him today, but it felt like his energy had been sapped out of him. He just wanted to bury himself in his blankets and cry himself to sleep again. </p><p>That didn’t help anyone, though. Sadness was just an unnecessary distraction from living. </p><p><i>Mom and Dad didn’t think that. They encouraged me to feel my feelings while working on controlling them,</i> Jordan thought to himself. </p><p>He clenched his jaw, upset at himself. Feeling his feelings wasn’t going to bring them back. There wasn’t anything he could to bring them back. They’re gone. </p><p>Jordan released his tight grip on the bench beneath him, a little afraid at the burst of anger he felt. He had been having tiny angry outbursts when he was alone or overwhelmed, but he needed to get them under control. He couldn’t risk having an outburst and hurting or scaring Kelsey. He needed to keep himself together before Kesley saw him. </p><p>Where was Kelsey, anyways? </p><p>That was why he came outside, he remembered. He was looking for Kesley, Hannah, and/or Luke. He went back inside and saw Damian pouring a glass of water. He was a few steps to the right of the window facing the backyard, and Jordan realized that Damian had been watching him. He stamped down the anger that bubbled at that realization. </p><p>“Where’s Hannah and Kelsey?”</p><p>It was probably better to not ask after Luke so Damian wouldn’t think he needed to go to therapy. Nothing was wrong with him, no matter what the school grief counselor said. Something sucky happened, but he was fine now. Literally less than two weeks ago he was having fun in this very house with the Wayne family. He told this to the grief counselor who nodded and made a lot of notes. He asked if Jordan had been having fun outside of that night, and Jordan nearly walked out from the insinuation that he hadn’t been having fun or been happy outside of a few isolated incidents.</p><p>How was Jordan supposed to remember how often he had been happy or having fun? Was he supposed to keep a feelings journal or something? That would be pretty boring since all it would say is “Normal day, nothing happened. I didn’t feel happy or sad today, but I did get a little angry when this went wrong. I didn’t act on the anger, though.” </p><p>The anger wasn’t even worth mentioning to anybody since he didn’t even really think about it after he calmed himself down. </p><p>“Jordan?”</p><p>Jordan snapped his attention back to Damian who was looking at him with a concerned expression, “Sorry, I um got distracted. What did you need?”</p><p>“I did not need anything. You asked me where Hannah and Kelsey were.”</p><p>“Oh yeah,” that was embarrassing that he forgot.</p><p>Damian studied him for a few seconds, “To answer your question, they are out with Luke to grab food and go to the park.”</p><p>“Oh, OK. I thought I heard the door close.”</p><p>Damian nodded, “You did, but that was me closing the door after I came back inside.”</p><p>“Oh.” </p><p>Jordan didn’t know what to do now. He couldn’t go back up to his room to wallow. He needed to stay up and active. </p><p>“I talked to Jason, that was why I was outside. He and Felix found where your family’s things were placed. Someone bought everything, including the apartments, and put the items into storage. Would you like for me to take you to meet Jason and Felix at the storage facility?”</p><p>Jordan paled as he realized that he had forgotten about Felix. How could he forget about his younger cousin on his day of grief? He was the worst cousin in the world. God, he was so selfish.</p><p>“Um, yeah. Thanks.”</p><p>He could barely utter the words, because his throat had closed up so much. He had lost sight of the most important thing that his parents had told him about being an older cousin. “Watch, take care of, and protect Felix when Aunt Eliza can’t.” </p><p>He had failed his entire family because of a stupid moment of sadness. This was why he would never let his sadness win. This was why he needed to stay focused. Felix was his responsibility and should always be placed above his own wants and needs. </p><p>He needed to forget about the sadness, the anger, and any other distractions from his main purpose in life until Felix was old enough to look after himself.</p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Jason woke up and gritted his teeth. He didn’t know how today was going to go, but he was not expecting it to be easy. He had talked to Felix’s therapist, Dr. Imam, and she told Jason to allow Felix to express himself however he felt comfortable. Dr. Imam told him that he would need to figure out if Felix did not know what today was, or if he was hiding his feelings about it, though. Felix could go either way, according to her, and he would need to adjust his approach for whichever way he was leaning. <p>Jason went to the bedroom and checked on his son to see if he was awake. When he saw that the kid was still asleep, Jason went to the tiny bathroom and took a quick shower. Then he woke up Felix who smiled at him like he did every morning. The little smile on his face warmed Jason’s heart every time, and he knew he would never forget it even after the kid grew up. </p><p>“Hey, bud. Are you ready to get up for school?”</p><p>Felix stretched and nodded, “Yeah. Can we eat sticks this morning?”</p><p>Jason rolled his eyes, “Yes, we can have French Toast Sticks.”</p><p>The kid refused to call them by their long name, which has gotten him into hot water with his teacher. He recalled how confused he was when he got a call from the school informing him that sticks were not an appropriate food for a young child. It had taken a drive down to the school, an hour long chat, and pictures to clear up that mess. </p><p>Felix knew how much it bothered Jason, though, and called them “sticks” to annoy Jason. </p><p>Case in point, Felix giggled before hopping out of bed. He ran into the kitchen and took his seat. Jason followed him and cooked breakfast, hovered as Felix washed up because of the day and stickiness of the syrup, and laid out Felix’s clothes for the day. As they drove to school, Jason debated how he should ask how Felix was doing. He didn’t want to open a wound, but he also didn’t want to ignore the anniversary. Felix was only six, so he might not realize today marked six months since his mom died. </p><p>“How are you doing today, Felix?”</p><p>“I’m fine. How are you doing today, Daddy?” he asked, a little suspiciously.</p><p>“I’m good, baby, thanks for asking.” </p><p>Should he mention the date? Dr. Imam said he might be repressing his sadness since he rarely talks about his life before the accident, and it might help to ask him more questions. But he also didn’t want to cause his kid unnecessary pain. </p><p>Fuck, why was this so hard? </p><p>He definitely shouldn’t talk about this before school, right? At least let him go to school without a cloud of heaviness. Yeah, that would be best. </p><p>He drove the rest of the way in silence while Felix sang along to the radio. He dropped Felix off at school and the teacher seemed surprised to see him. Should he have let Felix stay home? Probably. Dammit, he’s messed this up so bad already and the day’s barely begun. </p><p>Jason rested his head on the steering wheel before driving home to look for a new apartment. And summer job. He was only an academic year professor, and the academic year was over. Usually he had enough saved to not worry about the summer months too much as long as he edited a few books, but that was not going to cut it with Felix around. </p><p>Maybe he could work full-time with the publishing company for the summer. Or sell his soul. </p><p>He groaned as his head banged on the table. After taking a moment to wallow in his self-pity, he started obsessing over how Felix was doing. He should go and pick him up from school. Or would it be better to just let him be around his friends until the end of school?</p><p>Before he could dive too deep into the well of self-doubt, Jason’s phone rang. It was a number from Gotham, and one he vaguely recognized. However it was an unknown caller. He answered it with caution, hoping it wasn’t someone from his shady past, coming back to haunt him. </p><p>“Who is this?”</p><p>There was a pause before a deep male voice answered and Jason’s blood pressure instantly spiked, “Jason. It’s me. Bruce.”</p><p>Jason swore and took his phone away from his ear to hang up the phone. What right did the old man have to fucking call him out of the blue? How did even have his number? Alfred probably gave it to him. No, Alfred would never. It was probably Dickface, then. </p><p>“Wait, don’t hang up, son.”</p><p>Jason thrust the phone back to his ear to harshly say, “I’m not your son.”</p><p>“Bad choice of words, Jaybird. Please don’t hang up.”</p><p>“What?” Jason asked, hoping if he got the conversation out of the way, Bruce would leave him alone for the rest of his life. </p><p>Bruce hesitated before clearing his throat, “I received your request to view my storage locker.”</p><p>“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jason asked, utterly confused.</p><p>Bruce hesitated again, even longer this time, “I learnt of your child shortly after he was placed in your home. I had Barbara look into the situation, and when I discovered their items were about to be sold, I purchased them. I also purchased their apartments, if you would like the addresses?” </p><p>Jason had to work hard to keep his voice even, “You did what?”</p><p>“Jason, I was just trying to ensure your child and his cousin had items from their parents. I was just -”</p><p>“No, Bruce, you always do this. I can’t believe you would fucking do this! You’re so controlling and -,” Jason blew out a breath. At least it was Bruce who had the stuff Felix needed to know his parents better, “What do I need to do to take Felix and Jordan to the locker?”</p><p>“Nothing, Jason."</p><p><i> Yeah right,</i> Jason thought. </p><p>"I will drop the key off  at your apartment. When would be a good time?”</p><p>“Can you make it in half an hour?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Great,” Jason said as he grabbed his car keys to pick up Felix. “I’ll be here.”</p><p>He was not planning on being here. He placed a note in the door jam telling Bruce to put the keys on top of the doorframe. </p><p>Bruce might have done something nice for his family, but it was not OK for him to go behind Jason’s back like that.</p><div class="center">
  <p>#</p>
</div>Damian kept looking at Jordan from the corner of his eye. Today had been the most brutal, gut-wrenching, and exhausting day of his life. It had been hard to hear his son, foster son he had to keep reminding himself, sobbing in his room. He had kept his promise to Jordan, though, and stayed out of the way of his grieving process. <p>Now they were heading to a storage facility with all the items from his family’s apartment. Damian was not sure, but he believed that the teen did not have any momentos from his former life. He hoped to change that with the visit today. </p><p>After the silent car ride, they pulled into the facility. They eventually made their way into the locker and Jordan instantly went to Felix’s side. Jason came over to Damian and placed his hand on Damian’s shoulder. Damian sighed heavily.</p><p>“How bad was it, baby brat?”</p><p>“Jordan was grieving and I could not help. How was Felix?”</p><p>Jason shrugged, “He mentioned it a little on the way home, but nothing too bad. I don’t know if it’s a bad or good sign.”</p><p>Damian stared at the boys for a little bit, “I am worried about the flip Jordan seemed to have done from this morning to now.”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>Damian hesitated, “He sobbed for three conseuctive hours before sleeping for four. Then he took a shower and suddenly seemed fine.”</p><p>Jason leaned in and whispered, “Is he seeing anyone?”</p><p>Damian shook his head, “No. Luke and I are trying to persuade him to, but he continually refuses.” Damian decided he needed to change the subject before Jordan caught on, “How did you find this stuff? I had feared it was sold.”</p><p>Jason sighed, “I thought it had been, honestly. I felt shit because I hadn’t thought about it during that week from when they were dropped off to the funeral. I put out an ad, and somebody answered. It was lucky.”</p><p>Damian looked at Jason, “Somebody just happened to purchase all of this stuff from the same sale?”</p><p>Jason looked away, “Yeah, how weird is that? But that’s Gotham for ya, I guess.”</p><p>Damian knew Jason was hiding something, but he didn’t know what. He let it go and stood with his brother until Jason’s stomach was audibly growling. Felix had collected quite a few things, but Damian had not seen Jordan pick up anything. He didn’t want to question the teen, though, in the fear he might take it the wrong way. </p><p>They went to Felix’s favorite restaurant, and Damian noticed Jordan going out of his way to care for Felix. Jason seemed a little miffed every time he went to wipe his son’s face and Jordan beat him to it, but Jason did not say anything. Damian made a mental note to keep an eye out for future similar behaviour. </p><p>Jordan did not say anything on the way home, nor when he went to bed. Damian spent the whole night worrying over what he should tell Luke, if anything, about the events that transpired today.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I kind of feel like Jordan's emotional issues came out of left field, but I also thought that it probably was best to do it that to demonstrate how much he's been repressing. </p><p>Also, I do not stan Bruce and he's a shitty father in this fic. However, I felt like he would be the kind to buy everything in this kind of situation since he has a bit of a stalker vibe going on. In my opinion, he's a meddler and does really freaking awful things and tries to buy back lost affection. Let me know if it's too out-of-left-field though, because I can figure out a way to change it.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I believe that I will post every Tuesday.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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